Nekopara: Chords To Her Heartstrings
by Tahroetaro
Summary: (Maple x OC) Finally, a romance revolving around Maple! In a touching and heartwarming journey, our cool, calm, collected catgirl explores the intricacies and forgotten history of her relationship with a certain someone who has recently returned to her life after a prolonged absence.
1. Chapter 1: La Soleil

**Prologue**

As he took a deep breath, he caught some grit on his tonsils causing the boy to cough and wheeze coarsely.

He reacted to this irritation by bending over and allowing his stomach to lurch deeply in and out from the abnormally deepened panting.

On instinct, he tried to lay his palm onto the wall on his right to keep himself from falling from his violent trembling – only for the intense heat on its surface to painfully scald it.

He winced and withdrew his hand.

The damp towel that covered the lower part of his face was eventually better filtered the unhealthy smoke that surrounded him, allowing the boy's breathing to normalise.

He cleared his throat and opened his eyes in an intense glare.

– Only to look at the dancing orange tongues of flames sticking to the walls on either of him.

They crawled up to the ceiling, flickering wildly about. The flowing nature of it seemed elegant, yet taunting.

Wisps of black soot coalesced from its very tips, combining with the heavily accumulated smoke in the room, resulting in the darkness of its cloud to thicken even further.

The heat scorched the boy; the skin on his face, arms and legs felt tingly, his own eyes burned not from the irritation of the smoke but from the intense hotness that surrounds him.

Whatever he needed to do, he has got to do it fast.

He tightened his grip on the small figure that lay on his other arm.

The boy cradled it closely to his own body. As a response, it nuzzled itself tightly towards him, seeking protection from the hell that was threatening it.

The poor thing was struggling to breathe, just like him.

Unfortunately, they only have that single damp towel – and it was the one he needed right now to move about without pain.

He looked down at what he was holding.

It was a quick glance; the boy did not want to prolong their stay in this deadly environment.

Its small body was tense and rigid. The little one gripped at his shirt tightly, shoving it close to its chest as it buried its face in him.

"I'm gonna get you out," he promised.

Though he wasn't sure if he could be heard amongst the numerous, loud crackling sounds of the fire, the boy determined that assuring his frightened companion was worth the attempt.

He took one last deep breath, the itch on his throat worsened but he resisted the urge to begin coughing roughly again.

There was no time to waste.

He took off the wet towel and laid it gently on her face.

She squirmed uncomfortably at first before she realised how it was helping her with her breathing. She then hugged it close to her nose and mouth.

Resisting his natural instincts that were screaming for him to turn tail and rid himself of this unbearable heat that he swore was causing his very blood to boil from within him, he proceeded further into the literal hell.

Determined and persistent, he shielded his face with a bracing arm and trudged forward as he held his breath.

* * *

A bright, glaring sun was baking Yokohama Japan one Wednesday afternoon.

The residents in the city were going about their daily tasks and routines.

This was especially true in the populated municipality of the Naka-Ku ward where everyone – children, teens and adults alike – went through the typical mid-week madness.

One particular individual, however, was able to relish the fact that he does not have to partake in any work, at least for today.

The street was devoid of all but one car that was cruising by.

"Mhm…Yup, that's right… "

Miyureno was driving his spacious 7-seater car as he was talked on the phone, acknowledging every other word spoken by the person on the opposite end.

"So that should be it, right?"

"Pretty much," Miyureno replied flatly.

He glanced around for any oncoming traffic before making a left turn at a junction.

"By the looks of it, I should be able to tidy things up and send the report by the end of the day."

"Huh?" the man on the phone exclaimed in shock.

"B-but we have 5 days to clear this report, _at most_! There is no need to rush. There's more than enough time!"

Miyureno let out a light chuckle.

He pressed on the brakes to allow his car to come to a slow halt at yet, another traffic light.

He tapped the fingers of his free hand on the top of the gear-stick as he waited patiently for the light to turn green.

"I know. But if I don't stay on top of these reports, they'll stack up real quick. You know how frequently these calls come by."

The caller gave up on convincing Miyureno.

Giving their last few words of farewell, the two promptly wrapped up their conversation and ended the call.

Miyureno took his phone off the side of his head and glanced at it to check on the time. It was 2:12 in the afternoon.

Compared to the other countless days when he would be making the trip down these same roads, he would say that he was earlier than usual.

The traffic light eventually turned green, allowing him to step on the accelerator.

 _Here's to hoping that today isn't that busy of a day at the café,_ he thought to himself.

Going down a block of buildings, his destination eventually came into view.

The 2 storey brick-walled building, with its warm pink window awnings and the wood walls of the first floor gave the humble café shop a homey-feel. It sits in stark contrast to the towering squared office buildings nearby.

Surrounded by rich greenery and beautiful shrubs blooming with yellow flowers, Patisserie La Soleil looks very alluring to the weary workers that happen to pass by.

After not being greeted by such a sight for the longest period of time, Miyureno couldn't help but smile fondly at it.

He found a nearby parking spot so he killed the engines and yanked out his keys.

He brought down his car's sun visor. In the usual routine that he does, the young man looked at the mirror etched onto the visor to see his wavy, black hair slicked upwards and backwards on his head. He swiped a few stray strands of his hair back into their proper positions and checked the rest of his face.

His pupils, illuminated by the sun, shone chocolate brown where it would otherwise pass off as black when he was under less intense lighting.

Nothing else seemed out of place. Satisfied, he folded the sun visor back up to his car's roof.

He grabbed his laptop bag from the passenger seat to his right and promptly left his car.

Glaring from the intense sunlight, he quickly aimed for the café's white double-door entrance.

With the attire he was in right now, the intense heat will cause him to perspire profusely in no time. He donned a plain light-blue crew-neck tee-shirt and baggy black jogging pants with comfortable running shoes to top it off – his usual get-up for a nice, relaxing day at the pastry shop.

Pushing past the doors, he was greeted by the cool air inside.

The sounds of the soft chime of the bells filled the room.

Glad that the interior of La Soleil is unlike the blazing conditions outside, Miyureno sighed in relief.

He quickly glanced around the café, noting that the tables to his left were sparsely occupied by customers.

At this time of day, it was a normal occurrence; the few who were there seemed to be pre-occupied with whatever conversations they were having as they delightfully enjoyed the freshly-baked goods and aromatic beverages that were set on their table.

To his right were the displays for the wide assortment of pastries. A single woman was browsing through for something that she might fancy.

From the looks of the contents within the displays, it seems like lunch-hour had the café making great business: there was only a few of each type left for sale.

Dine-in or takeaways aside, what really livened up the atmosphere of the place was the main concern of Miyureno.

He began looking for the café's iconic attendants…

"Miyu-san!" he heard a familiar high-pitched and cheery voice greet him to his right.

Sure enough, he turned to see one of the café's iconic waitress and mascot, Chocola.

The wide-smiling catgirl was dressed in her usual La Soleil waitress-maid uniform that was personally tailored for her.

Her white dress had ruffled ends at the seams of its skirt and arms and was partly covered by a fitting black blazer that wrapped her torso while settling itself on most of her skirt. It did not cover her chest, therefore forming an upside-down heart-shape.

A pink ribbon rests at the base of her neck where two ends of the blazer came together above her chest; the iconic catgirl bell hung below it, thoroughly polished and shining brilliantly silvery-blue. The blazer was also held together at her torso by maroon heart-shaped buttons.

An apron with two cute pink ribbons at its top rested squarely in the centre of her dress and a big, bouncy bow was tied behind her back to keep it in place.

Chocola also sported black thigh-high stockings that tapered off at the top with cat-ear-like shapes and she had a pair of shiny maroon heeled work shoes to complement it.

On her right chest, a pink name tag is pinned with her name ' _Chocola'_ written on it.

"Nyaaa~!" she mewed jubilantly as she wrapped his waist in a hug.

Chocola, in Miyureno's point of view, was the most melodic in speech amongst all the catgirls here. The ever-optimistic kitten's innocence never fails to shine through as she shows unrestrained affection to others.

"Chocola has missed you! You've been gone for a while, nya~! Way-way-way too long!" she chimed happily while looking up at him with beady amber eyes that shimmered with delight.

She let go of him and took a step back.

Standing on the tips of her toes, she looked like she was going to burst from her bottled up enthusiasm. The kitten hugged her round serving tray to her chest tightly.

Miyureno chuckled and smiled at the warm reception he received from the young catgirl.

"Hi Chocola! It's great to see you again. I've missed you too."

His response incited a wide grin from her.

"So the traitor has returned…"

Judging from the flat, unenthusiastic tone of the cold voice coming from his left, Miyureno could easily guess who it could be.

Like a yin to a yang, if there was Chocola, there should be…

"Ah! Vanilla," Miyureno said, shocked.

The white-haired twin-sister to Chocola was standing threateningly close to him. She stared at him with narrowed, sceptical eyes – as though she had caught him red-handed for something.

Miyureno tugged at his collar nervously.

Vanilla was also wearing the La Soleil maid uniform with her own colour palette.

Though similar in features, Vanilla's maid uniform only differed from that of Chocola's by the colours: where her sister had pink, Vanilla would have cream blue and where Chocola had black stockings, Vanilla wore white ones.

Her catgirl bell was a beautiful, shimmering gold.

"Wh-what are you looking at me like that for Vanilla…?"

The small catgirl huffed and crossed her arms, the two long tails of her elegant white hair bounced in response.

She looked rather perturbed.

"So it seems that your two-timing-café-hopping has ended badly for you," she mused.

"…and now here you come running back. What do you take us for? La Soleil is a strong, independent pastry shop who has no need for playboys like you. So shoo~… Shoo~!"

She waved her hands to him mockingly.

Miyureno chuckled shakily as he scratched the back of his head.

 _But… the last café shop I visited was La Soleil…_

He struggled to find a proper response to her sly accusation.

"What's going on there? Chocola? Vanilla? What did I tell you about crowding around the customers at the doorstep? At least let them in first. Geez…"

A berated voice spoke out from behind them.

As the twins shifted to turn their attention to whoever it was, Miyureno's line of sight to the person became unobstructed.

His eyes fell on the eldest catgirl in the family, the short Munchkin Cat was grasping onto her trusty clipboard.

"You kittens… I swear, Kashou-san doesn't seem to be doing much in helping me manage the two of you- "

She stopped mid-sentence when she looked at him, taken slightly aback.

"Oh…" she blinked.

"Miyureno-san. I didn't think you'd come back so soon."

"Azuki! Really? Buts it's already been six months, hasn't it?"

"I mean… yes but it didn't seem that way."

Whatever sign of irritation she had in her voice a moment ago dissipated momentarily. The catgirl was just filled with plain shock now.

She sighed and placed a hand on her hip.

"Perhaps managing the catgirls here has me so pre-occupied that time is now flying by… In any case, Kashou would be happy to see you again."

Azuki assumed her usual deterministic glare and passive smirk.

She crossed her arms in an authoritative manner as she directed her next words to her two younger sisters.

"You two, you shouldn't swarm him like that. What did I tell ya about being too overly-excited about greeting customers? Thankfully, it was just Miyureno."

"Nya-!" Chocola exclaimed, Azuki's comment caused the distressed catgirl to justify herself in a fit.

"Chocola hasn't forgotten what you've said, onee-chan! I-its just-"

She proceeded to twiddle with her fingertips as she continued shamefully.

"Chocola got excited at seeing Miyu-san, that's all!"

"Mm..!" Vanilla gave a sharp nod.

As opposed to her expressive sister, Vanilla merely looked intensely at Azuki rather than being flustered.

"We just wanted to give him a good talking to for cheating on us! If it were to be anyone else, we would give them their space! We swear!"

 _I haven't been cheating on anyone, though…_ Miyureno thought inself-contained dismay.

He grimaced at how Vanilla managed to make a love-affair out of his absence.

The joint retorts of the twins cornered the short-haired Azuki.

"Uwah…! Okay! Okay! I was just sayin'. Just be careful next time... Damn it. No need to get so defensive now…"

Azuki let out a sigh before averting her attention back to him. She gestured for him to follow her.

"Come. Let me show you to your table. I bet 'cha want the same place as always?"

"Yup! If that's alright with you," Miyureno said.

He followed her to the extreme left side of the café and to a booth that was right beside the large window panels.

It was Miyureno's favourite spot for when he used to patronize the pastry shop a few months ago.

Outside, there was a big open space for the rest of the lot belonging to La Soleil before it led to a wall of bright green trees and big, puffy bushes. The office buildings towered in the distance behind it.

Ignoring the concrete towers in the background, the view – in Miyureno's opinion – was the best one throughout the whole shop. For days on end, he could just take time off his work and gaze mindlessly out the window to give his mind some time to unwind and relax.

"Of course it's alright, silly. Do you even need to ask? It's not like I can say no…" Azuki commented in her usual wryly tone.

Miyureno chuckled agreeably to her point.

Just like Chocola and Vanilla, Azuki's character and personality was very distinctively unique to her.

That's the case for most catgirls actually.

She was the most boisterous of the Minaduki family.

Even though she may come across as rude rather often, she always limits herself to teases and insults to converse with those around her. She has a lot of pent-up energy which she sometimes unleashes by going into frequent fights and quarrels with the other catgirls.

Being rather aggressive, it's pretty safe to say that she can be akin to a wildcat.

If Miyureno were to give her some kind of redeeming quality, it would be the way she would take responsibility to manage her younger sisters in and out of the café.

To him, it shows that, aside from her hard exterior, the catgirl had some semblance of affection to others. Miyureno has yet to find out the extent to her caring and tender side, however – she is good at hiding it, no less deny it.

With that in mind, he made sure not to let this opinion of his be made known to her.

He very much cherished the integrity of his skin and would like to keep it that way: unscratched, unharmed and 'un-bleeding'.

He sat down on the comfy cushion of the booth.

Before taking her leave, Azuki assured him that she'll call for a particular waiter to come by and attend to him.

She then proceeded to the register and disappeared through the door leading into the kitchen behind it.

Meanwhile, Miyureno took out his laptop and then began to set up his laptop in front of him, inserting the wire pins of his charging cable into an electrical plug located below the table.

When the login screen popped up to prompt him to enter the password and access his account, Miyureno paused.

 _Hmmm… Is it? No…_

He questioned himself as he typed in numerous possibilities to the code but getting denied after every single one.

He heaved a sigh of defeat and reluctantly began to fish out his wallet from his pocket, leaning awkwardly to one side to allow his hand to squeeze into the tight space.

"Why does the password have to be so complicated? How troublesome…" he muttered under his breath.

Taking out his black leather wallet, he picked through the many cards he had slotted in it and found the one he was looking for.

Referring to the characters and numerals etched on the card, he typed in his account password again. This time, the process was successful.

He navigated to the intranet of his workplace and identified the link labelled 'Report submissions' and clicked on it.

A lengthy list of reports loaded onto screen.

"Oh! Miyu-san is on his laptop! Are you doing one of those reports again?" he heard someone in-front of him ask curiously.

Miyureno looked up to see Chocola. Her head was popping out of the divider between his booth and the one in-ahead of it.

"Do you have any new stories to share? You know I love your stories, right? Right?" she prodded in excitement, popping her head out even more as though she was about to launch upwards in anticipation.

"Do you have another one of those catgirl-stuck-in-a-tree stories? Or-or! Those ones with bushes or trees on fire! Or! OR…!"

Before she could continue listing any more in a manner seeming like she could blow up in any moment, Vanilla popped up in the same manner beside her and interrupted her.

"What about those stories where you lay your perverted hands on women and claim that you are just saving their lives?"

Her statement caused him to flinch.

"Or those where you take advantage of sleeping women to kiss them?" she continued tonelessly.

Miyureno flinched even more as the catgirl listed out the inappropriate claims so loudly – and in such a matter-of-factly expression that made it sound like it's an already given fact.

It was like taking jabs to the stomach.

" _Vanilla!_ I never said such things! You've just interpreted those stories wrongly-!"after raising a short fit, he composed himself and cupped his hands elegantly on the table.

"A-and she wasn't sleeping… She was _unconscious!_ She wasn't breathing and her heart stopped beating, a clear sign that-"

"-she was in the mood." The blue-eyed kitten said flatly, overriding his answer and giving a whole new meaning to it.

Miyureno ignored it and continued, louder this time to assert his point, " _AND_ … it's _not_ kissing! It was CPR! Mouth-to-mouth!"

Vanilla's crystal blue eyes narrowed yet again.

"Sureee…"

"EH! You don't believe me-?"

The catgirl he was trying so hard to convince began to sink slowly below the divider and out of view, her face looked expressionless yet heavily judgemental.

"W-Wait! Where do you think you're going! You have it all wrong, I tell you!" Miyureno exclaimed while hunched over his table and a fist up in the air.

His veins were popping out on his forehead as frustration took hold of him.

Chocola laughed at his flustered expression. She hopped off her booth and came over to his, taking a seat opposite to him. Vanilla re-appeared and followed her sister.

The two were now sitting together, looking at Miyureno. They stared at him with unwavering focus; intent eyes clearly giving away their desire to hear more from him.

Miyureno sighed and crossed his arms as he looked down at the table, "I'm sorry girls; there hasn't been much action so far. Just another regular case of a dust bin catching fire because of someone throwing cigarettes into it," he waved his hands dismissively.

"…nothing that would excite you…"

"Nyaaa~" Chocola mewed as though she was whining.

"But Miyu-san has been gone for so long! How can so few things happen in all that time! Chocola feels disappointed!"

Vanilla nodded her head curtly and turned to look at her sister.

She began to pat her head gently.

"Yoshi, yoshi~ (there, there~). Miyureno-san doesn't deserve our immense trust and attention. For failing to explain his long disappearance, I shall proceed to discard of him so that he doesn't continue to break Chocola's precious heart, no he won't~!"

Miyureno felt a pang within his heart at the obvious difference in treatment the catgirl was showing to him and Chocola.

Vanilla rested her head on one hand which cradled the top of the table. She looked out the window with bored eyes.

"It seemed like years since we last saw you and that is all the work you've done so far? How lazy of you, Miyureno. You made me and Chocola so excited. Such a waste… Tsk tsk~"

A bead of sweat trickled down Miyureno's forehead as he chuckled shakily.

"But I really have been busy, though. Even if I haven't been attending to calls or incidents, it's because I have been in training for the whole of 6 months. I could've sworn I told you two about it. And I've only been gone for 6 months… what are you two saying?"

Miyureno explained his situation in a desperate bid to re-gain the respect of the two young catgirls in-front of him.

For what purpose does he want to convince them? He himself wasn't certain. Pride, maybe? Dignity? Is there any point trying though?

He shrugged to himself.

Chocola squeezed both her hands close to her chest, clasping them tightly as she heatedly refuted.

"But Miyu-san~! You know catgirls experience time differently! Especially if we haven't been with someone for some time! It may seem like a few months for you but to Chocola, it feels like it's been much-much longer than that!"

"Mm! 6 months is definitely a lie!" the other half of the pair added.

"Yes! Feels like years instead!"

"3 years, at least, Chocola!"

"No! It's more like… forever-forever-forever!"

"So so long that I'm beginning to forget how it was like having him around, Chocola!"

The two continued to trail off as they descended into a seemingly never-ending cycle of exaggeration.

 _But you two are a year-and-a-half old though…_ Miyureno sighed, unwilling to put in any effort to snap the two from their imagination.

"W-what the? What is going on here? I only left Miyureno-san for a few minutes and it seems that you two are making him uncomfortable again. I swear, if you kittens aren't going to restrain yourselves, you'll have another thing coming I tell ya!"

Azuki came back from the kitchen and abruptly snapped Chocola and Vanilla back into reality.

"Nya-!" they both yelped.

"Oh, Azuki," Miyureno said.

He looked at the catgirl who was now shaking her head at her two young siblings.

"They were just asking if I had any stories to share from work. You know, the usual…"

"Of course they were. That's almost-always why they surround you whenever you are around… or were around…" she waved her hand to the side as she proceeded to address Chocola and Vanilla.

"Anyways, what stories were you hoping for? Kashou-san has just explained not too long ago that Miyureno here was _just_ back from months of training at Tokyo. It would be plain bad-luck if he would get caught up with so many things to do when he's just returned home, don't you think so? Chocola..? Vanilla..?"

 _Like a mother nagging at her children…_

 _That kinda makes her sound like an old hag, huh?_

Miyureno smiled lightly at his own remark.

The two nodded their heads in defeat, seeming guilty about their excitement.

Seeing the once-excited twins now looking glum made his insides churn. After all, he knew that they were just acting out of pure excitement and happiness from seeing him after a period of absence (Despite the odd way Vanilla expressed this excitement…).

"Azuki is right. You can't expect so many stories when I just came back a few days ago. Though, I understand why you two would be excited. I've been missing my favourite catgirls since the last time I was here. It'd make sense to be very delighted to see everyone again."

Chocola and Vanilla's face brightened up as they looked at Miyureno.

He was gave them a warm, heartfelt smile.

Chocola then bounced in joy.

"Yay! Vanilla, did you hear that?! Miyu-san said he misses us!"

The catgirl was tugging at the hem of her sister's sleeves. Waving herself side-to-side in pure glee, she let out her thoughts happily.

"We missed you too! Missed you very much! Mhm! Mhm!"

"Yes. Yes. We would never take La Soleil's main source of profit for granted after all~!" Vanilla added.

"Aha… do I really spend that much here, though?"

"Anyways, to call us your 'favourite catgirls' is a lie. We all know who gets all your attention around here," Vanilla went back to shooting a smirk at him.

Before he could manage a retort, Azuki sighed at him and shook her head, "Baka… (Dummy...) I was trying to get their backs off ya. Don't come crying to me now if you feel that they're being a handful to you again…

"Anyways… speaking of Pull-May, she isn't back from their shopping at the moment. So I guess I'll be taking your order."

"Oh? Maple?"

Miyureno just remembered that Azuki has a habit of playing around with her sister's names.

For Maple and Cinnamon, she would just reverse the order and call them Pull-May and Mon-Cinna.

For the twins, she would address them together as ChocoVani sometimes.

Coconut… she would just call her Nuts as a joke.

He wasn't sure why she does any of that but that's just her way of doing things. Maybe it's just the privilege of being the eldest getting to her.

He continued, "I mean. That's alright. I know Maple is normally the one who attends to me whenever I was around but it does not have to be her _all the time_."

"Now, now. No need to get so unsettled, Miyureno!" Azuki mockingly said out loud before she began to smirk mischievously.

"I just thought it woulda' fit the occasion for Pull-May to do it. After such a long period of separation, the re-union won't just be nostalgic, but romantic too~! Kekeke…!"

Miyureno narrowed his eyes in disbelief. His mouth hung agap.

"What are you on about, Azuki…"

The 3-year-old catgirl continued to snicker behind her clipboard despite his reaction.

He huffed and sat back with his arms crossed in playful annoyance, "So… are you going to take my order or not?"

"Hehe. Of course... Of course… I was just having a laugh."

She wiped a tear and cleared her throat before asking, "What would you like to have for today, Miyureno-san?

After giving it much thought, he eventually said, "I guess I'll have… a cup of Fining's Ear-"

"-Earl Grey tea with a slice of syrup-glazed walnut cheesecake," all three catgirls recited in unison.

Azuki went ahead to snicker while she scribbled his order on a piece of paper on her clipboard.

"Nya-haha! Miyu-san's taste hasn't changed one bit nya!" Chocola happily pointed.

"Is it that obvious…?"

"Miyu-san, everyone knows that you will always order Maple-oneechan's recommendation." Vanilla said, holding her head high as though she has struck factual gold.

"Heh… You're just so predictable Miyureno. I guess if any good comes out of your return to La Soleil…"

 _As if there wasn't any good with my coming here, Azuki…_ he wondered in the midst of her statement.

"… It'd be being able to fluster Pull-May again. Kekeke…"

"I suppose that's quite an unusual sight for everyone huh…" Miyureno admitted, recalling the American Curl's usually cool façade.

Azuki simply smirked as she walked off back to the kitchen with his order.

As for Chocola and Vanilla, they continued to accompany Miyureno as he began to work on his report for the day now that the commotion has died down.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **TaRouTaRhoe, 12 May 2018**

 **I hope you have enjoyed the beginning of this story and that it is not so long-winded/hard to read.**

 **My intentions for this story is not to rush into things because I believe that Maple is a character with so much depth and complex personality that it would be a waste to just suddenly having fall for a person without much effort. Anyways, the best romances, in my opinion, are those that delve deep into the emotions of the characters, and that is exactly what I intend to do!**

 **However, I also want to add in light-hearted moments around the place as well. I'm sure this chapter reflects the two directions I'm going with the story so you pretty much get a good idea about the style of this fanfic from here.**

 **So, if that's what you're into then look forward to the other chapters!**

 **Reviews are much appreciated (and needed to help make this story all the better!)**

 **Subsequent chapters are in the works so stay tuned!**

 **Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 2: Kashou

Miyureno was rapidly typing out his thoughts onto his laptop. More and more of the report began to form as a result.

Stopping to think about what else to add into it, he straightened his back and leaned into the cushion of his seat. At the same time, he looked at the two sitting in-front of him.

Chocola was fiddling around with his wallet with curious eyes. She was humming a cheerful tune to herself while shaking her legs in glee. Apparently, Miyureno had left it on the table when he wanted to take out his card a while back to unlock his laptop. The many other cards in it were scattered all over the surface of the table directly in-front of her. At one point, she was laughing at a picture of his high school student card. In shock, Miyureno tried to take it away from her to end his embarrassment.

Unfortunately, the giggling catgirl had put on quite a fight so he eventually gave up. For a while, he steeled himself against the remarks and teases that she threw at him. Though he had to admit that they were actually all compliments, it made him ashamed nonetheless. Now, she moved on to look at whatever else that was in his wallet that could interest her. She giggled at some and gasped in interest at others. Admittedly, watching her behave that way was amusing; he let out a warm smile.

Vanilla, on the other hand, had his phone with her. Her upper body was sprawled all over her side of the table with fully stretched out as she stared blankly at his phone, tapping away at it. It seems like she was pre-occupied with some game he had in it. Her azure eyes looked bored and hollow.

"Today doesn't seem to be such a busy day for you two, huh?" he asked them.

Chocola turned her attention from one of the cards she was closely studying, "Nope! Afternoons are always the best, nya~! After the hectic lunch hours, everyone in the shop can finally catch a break!"

As she says this, she had a very wide grin on her face. The jubilant La Soleil waitress waved the card she was holding around as she spoke. It was his student card again…

Miyureno hung his head low in shame.

"That's right. We did a lot in the beginning of the day. So some rest is well-deserved," Vanilla mused tonelessly, disinterest still apparent in her sky-blue pupils. "We aren't like you Miyureno-san, taking a 6-month-long vacation for not doing much. You slacker, you…"

Miyureno ignored her sly comment and rolled his eyes.

 _This catgirl…_ he sighed in his mind.

He chuckled lightly at the stark contrast in personality of the two. He always found them rather entertaining; always adding so much to the atmosphere of the café. It was a wonder why more people wouldn't visit La Soleil as much as he did, knowing that the attendants here are sure to make anyone feel at ease here. Sure, lunch hour would see this place booming like ants swarming a sugar cube but afterwards, activity just dies down.

In spite of that, he did not take the peace and quiet that it offers for granted. In fact, he wishes that the café would remain this unpopulated so that he can always feel relaxed during his visits. That factor was the big attraction for him coming at this time anyway.

A couple occupying the standalone round tables to his far-right broke him out of his wandering thoughts. He noticed a lady looking around for someone. Miyureno pointed this out to the Chocola and Vanilla. They stopped whatever they were doing and turned their attention to whoever he was referring to.

Chocola nodded her head and kept all his cards neatly back into his wallet before she left him to attend to the couple. Vanilla also excused herself and went off with her sister. He looked at them as they walked away.

A while later, heard the creaking hinge of the kitchen swivel door. A man cladded in a chef outfit emerged. It was the esteemed owner of the pastry shop himself – Minaduki Kashou. He appeared to be holding onto a silver serving tray by its two handles at the sides. He looked around and spotted Miyureno, giving him a curtly smile before making his way towards him.

"Michael, it's good to see you again. I hope that your training went well," Kashou greeted courteously.

Having known Miyureno even before he began studying in Japan, Kashou has gotten used to calling him by his western first name. After all, 'Michael' was how he would address him before he applied for his own Japanese name.

The pastry chef set the tray down on his table and offered his hand to his old friend.

Michael stood up and smiled, clasping Kashou's hand in a firm handshake, "Kashou. I'm glad to see you again as well."

After exchanging greetings, Miyureno replied to his question, "I guess that what you say is true. The course has been long and pain-staking but it has paid off well. I don't regret signing up for it, that's for sure."

The two sat opposite to one another as they continued their conversation.

Kashou rolled up his sleeves and took off his chef's hat, setting it aside on the table. He ruffled his flattened brown hair, causing it to be spiky like how it normally is. "I'm sorry about not attending your commissioning ceremony though, Michael, and I'm sure Shigure is too."

Michael simply waved one his hands as he dismissed his friend's apology lightly, "No-no, don't worry about it. I understand that the date clashes with some major orders for your shop."

"Besides," he continued, "that kind of contract between you and such a big company is an opportunity to publicise La Soleil. An important chance like that shouldn't go to waste."

"Yeah… Tokyo is quite a distance away as well. I'm afraid that, if I did go, it would be a mad rush with the orders. Thanks for understanding man. It's just," he crossed his arm, "We regret not being able to accompany you on such an important day…"

Kashou then began to smirk and leaned forward as he let out a wryly remark, "… _Sir…'_

This caught Miyureno by surprise. "W-what! Hey! Don't… don't call me that…" he stammered awkwardly, darting his eyes about. "B-Besides, that's just for work. Leave it out when we hang around casually Kashou."

Kashou let out a loud laughter in response to Michael's stammering, "I know. I know. I was just messing with you!"

Miyureno looked at him incredulously, a long, dark shadow casting itself across his face.

"You've been waiting to use that joke on me, haven't you…?"

"You kidding? No way I could've kept that in without _at least_ making the joke once. Your reaction is priceless! I rarely get to see the all-serious Michael suddenly get so uneasy!" he leaned back and laughed hysterically again, grasping his stomach with both hands while doing so. Miyureno just sighed and brought his hand to his face. He cursed silently to himself.

Kashou wiped off a tear before he changed the topic of their talk. He pointed at the tea and cheesecake that he had just served him.

"Anyways, sorry if it took a while to bring this to you. We haven't had many orders for this particular cake since you've left."

"Really now? Cheesecake not being popular?"

"Not just any old Cheesecake though Michael. This is a special kind. It's made-to-order," he pointed out with a raised finger.

"Oh yeah... I forgot I always asked for the 'special' cheesecake."

"Yes. I remember preparing whole cakes of these to serve slices through the week just for you. Ever since you went to Tokyo though, they were left by the lonesome in the fridge. When I realised that you weren't coming back anytime soon, I had the girls finish off whatever was left of it," Kashou explained.

"So… ", he continued, "Tell me more about this 6-month course. I've heard about it and how tough it can be. I'm curious; how can it shape some guy like _you_ into an officer. _Or someone who claims to be one…_ hehehe."

Miyureno looked at him in annoyance, "What do you mean a 'guy like me?'. Tsk. To think that you're my friend after all this while…

"But whatever you've heard from others, it's definitely true. The 6 months is tough. To put it in Chocola and Vanilla's words, it made it feel much, much longer than 6 months," he took the cup of tea from its coaster and brought it to his lips, careful not to let any spill and stain his tee-shirt.

"So much has happened from it and I truly believed it changed me in many ways…"

Miyureno trailed off as he detailed all the experiences and stories he had to share about his time at the Tokyo Fire Department Academy. The two good friends talked for a while longer. Both of them greatly valued the much-needed catch-up session. Since his times in the academy had made such a big impact to him, his perspective of himself as a person and his role in Japan's life-saving force, the memories poured out of the 21-year-old with such clear recollection. They eventually ended up talking about nostalgic memories revolving people they had spent time with before.

"Yeah, who would've figured that she would be working in a similar line of work as I am," Miyureno said while he shoved another morsel of cheesecake into his mouth, savouring it's sweet taste and fluffy texture.

"Not to mention," he muffled, his mouth full, "that she'd be doing so well, rising up the ladders so quickly. She is just what, two or three years older than us?"

Kashou was leaning back casually on the couch, one hand stretched out to the side and draping across the top of the cushion. He looked at the table surface, thinking about the person Michael was referring to, "I agree. So, it seems like she has been cranking it out for the past few years since graduation."

When Miyurno felt that he has shared enough, he questioned Kashou about the café shop's performance during his absence. The pastry chef expressed no regrets for pursuing his dreams. He told Miyurenp with confidence that the challenges he faced being the shop's owner were things that he enjoys solving. The assurance that Kashou spoke with gave much comfort to Michael. He knew how much this meant to his friend so to hear that he is doing well made him feel happy for him. After all, he has been with Kashou through all of high school and knew about his dream of abandoning family tradition to open up a pastry shop long before he actually went and did it. Their conversation ceased to end until Kashou was eventually called back to his duties.

Vanilla came by to bring Kashou's attention to something happening behind the shop. "Shigure, Maple, Cinnamon and Coconut are back from shopping for ingredients, Master~", she chimed in her monotonous voice.

 _Wow. She is_ way _friendlier to him than she is to me,_ Miyureno wondered with jealousy. He questioned what did he do to be bullied by her. Maybe 'bully' is the wrong word, it makes him sound like a pansy…

* * *

Together, Kashou and Vanilla went to the back of the kitchen to join the rest of La Soleil's staff.

The small kitchen became rather crowded with all of La Soleil's staff around. Next to the back-door, Azuki stood with her pen and clipboard in-hand. She ticked against her checklist whenever supplies came through the door. Coconut, Maple and Cinnamon were ferrying bags of groceries from the taxi that brought them back to the shop.

It was unsurprising to see that the load Coconut was carrying was so much more than that of her two older sisters. Maple and Cinnamon would carry two bags at most but Coconut could bear to carry four or more without struggling at all. As for the two youngest catgirls in the Minaduki family, Chocola and Vanilla were taking out the ingredients from the bags and finding their respective storage space in the kitchen. His staff was everywhere right now.

Kashou stood helpless at the door leading into the café; he looked at all the catgirls at work, wondering what part of this process could he assist them in. As he did this, he failed to notice his young sister, Shigure, leaning lazily on the metal work-table to his right.

"Nii-sama~", she sighed. She looked thoroughly drained. Her usually neat hair was in frays with some slicked in sweat and stuck to her forehead.

"Sh-Shigure… Are you okay? What happened out there?"

"The weather is tremendously hot today, Kashou-san. If we had to pick the right time to go shopping, it shouldn't be now." Maple complained. She had just finished her last trip from the taxi, leaving Cinnamon and Coconut to deal with the remaining grocery bags. She let the supplies down on the central table for Chocola and Vanilla to empty. The blonde American Curl wiped the sweat on her forehead off with the back of her hand. Her jade-green eyes closed as she took a breather from her labouring.

Coconut and Cinnamon joined Maple once they had placed the groceries they carried onto the same metal table. The two let out an exhausted puff and slumped on each other.

"Nyaaaa~ Cinnamon is going to die of a heatstroke soon~"

"Haaa~ Usually, shopping outings are a breeze but this is different. Wayyy different…"

Coconut and Cinnamon both whined one after another. Azuki did a quick scan through the list she had and nodded her head to confirm that they now had everything they need. She closed the back-door, allowing the cool air in the kitchen to remain inside. After that, she flashed Kashou a quick thumbs-up.

"Okay," Kashou said, now standing at the head of the metal table with his hands on his hips. "It looks like the four of you have worked very hard to get all this. Why not take a break and leave the rest to us guys!"

"Okay~…" the four of them responded in a sigh, fatigue evident in their voice.

As they rummaged through separate grocery bags, the twins expressed their support to Kashou's instructions.

"Yes! Yes! Chocola thinks so too! Everyone did a good job at shopping! All of you should go get some good rest!"

"Mm! We will take over from here!" Vanilla flashed them a thumbs-up to accompany her determined glare.

Kashou laughed at his two catpanions and nodded in agreement.

He turned his attention to Azuki. The catgirl was just done tucking away the clipboard onto a shelf, "That means you too, Azuki. Let's lend a hand to Chocola and Vanilla in stocking the ingredients away, alright?"

The short-haired catgirl put her hands to her hips and swayed defiantly as she groaned, "Eh… I thought you can manage on your own Kashou-san. It's always up to us catgirls to save your skin again…"

She shook her head in mock disappointment, "fine… fine..."

Kashou just stared at her blankly, wondering whether she is truly joking about his capabilities or not.

"I suppose the only customer we have out there right now doesn't really need our attention at the moment," she added.

"So it won't hurt to have everyone not attending to the store-front."

The Minaduki Munchkin cat promptly proceeded to the table to help out as per Kashou's request. He joined them, taking a bag from the bundle on the table and sifting through its contents. In the midst of this, he thought through what Azuki had said and therefore got reminded of something.

"Oh yeah Maple," he began as his eyes remained fixed to the bags he was looking through.

The catgirl responded with a brief, ' _Hmm?_ ' as she brought her head up and looked at him, the two long helical strands of her blonde hair bounced as she moved.

"I just remembered, I believe there is someone you'd like to meet. He is in the café right now."

"Someone… meet…?" she muttered, tilting her head in wonder.

" **He?!** _"_ Shigure, Cinnamon and Coconut asked in unison as Kashou snapped them out of their restful daze. Their thoughts pondered on that particular word as they looked at him with much curiosity. Their intense eyes cleared any signs of the exhaustion they had.

"Hmm. Who is it?" Chocola, too, wondered.

Kashou and Azuki looked at her in disbelief. Her twin sister whispered the answer to her question.

"Oh! Right!" she piped in realisation with wide eyes before smiling pleasantly and speaking, "Miyure- mmmngmgnhng-!"

She was cut off by Vanilla who covered her mouth to silence her voice with an iron grip.

"Now, now, we are neglecting our work, Chocola! We mustn't disappoint master by slacking off now, right? Let's go~ Let's go~!"

Chocola nodded happily and spoke a few more incomprehensible words through her sister's hands, "Mffmffmfffmhmhm!"

The two then continued to their tasks, completely forgetting about what just happened.

Kashou just looked at the two and chuckled shakily. Maple, despite paying attention to the odd behaviour of the two kittens, did not catch on to what Chocola was trying to say. She raised her hand close to her face to cup her chin. Tilting her head to one side, she closed her eyes in thought.

She mumbled her complaints at them, "Ehhh… What is with you all? Isn't this being a bit over-dramatic. Can't you just tell me who it is already…"

"Just go find out for yourself, Pull-May," Azuki said with a smirk on her face. The eldest catgirl elbowed her sister teasingly on the side.

Maple let out a sigh and walked to the door. "Seriously, I don't think any person is _this_ worth being so hush-hush abo-"

She was now standing a few steps in the café and by the register. As she let out her thoughts dismissively, she scanned the sitting area only to spot a particular face that made her stop mid-sentence.

"Wah?! Did Maple-oneechan just freeze?!" Coconut exclaimed as she looked at the normally composed catgirl being rooted to her spot in shock.

"That's… weird..." Cinnamon added.

Shigure gripped the bridge of her nose with two fingers as she gave a maniacal look, "My, my… for my lady-like catgirl to behave in such a way, this person must be quite the killer!

"I guess when it comes to love, I can never prepare my girls to contain their emotions, can't I? HOHOHO!"

Kashou looked at her with regret in his eyes, "Sh-Shigure… I think you're thinking too far into this…"

Coconut ignored the two of them completely. Suspicion was all about her face.

"Who exactly is this person?" she asked, taking a few steps to the door.

Before she did though, she was stopped by Kashou.

"Give it a while, Coconut." He told her as he stood at the doorway.

Coconut just looked at him in shock. If questions weren't gnawing on their minds before, it is definitely making them much more curious now. Shigure, Cinnamon and Coconut wished that they could step into the café now and see what could cause such a reaction by Maple.

Or who…

"M-…Miyu…reno…" Maple muttered softly under her breath as she stood there looking at him sitting at the booth.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **TaRouTaRhoe, 13 May 2018**

 **And so, our heroine has made her debut in my story!**

 **Quite a bit of this chapter focuses on Kashou and Miyureno. It highlights Miyureno's history quite a bit so you get to know more about that character before we begin the pairing between him and Maple.**

 **If you have been waiting patiently for the two to finally meet then best get ready for the next chapter!**

 **Feel free to review and leave feedback, guys! Much appreciated!**

 **See you in the next one!**


	3. Chapter 3: Maple

Miyureno was left with the finishing statements to his report. However, he was struggling to find the exact words to conclude it. He stared idly out of the window to his left, eventually day-dreaming as he looked at the lush green trees in the distance sway in the wind. The bright sunlight reflected off of its leaves, making them glimmer brilliantly. He was so deeply immersed in his own world that he failed to hear the sound of approaching footsteps.

Someone called to him in a brief, soft tone, "Miyureno."

"Hmm?" was all he could let out as snapped himself out of his thoughts only to lay his eyes on the very catgirl that Azuki was teasing to him about earlier in the day.

Maple was standing at the end of his table with both of her hands resting on the centre of her apron, one on top of the other. She looked at him with wide eyes, the beautiful sparkling green in them expressing her surprise. Just like Azuki, Chocola and Vanilla, she was wearing her La Soleil uniform with a colour scheme that was specific to her. It had a dark shade of orange that stood out from – yet also complemented – her beautiful blonde hair and pale complexion.

"Maple…" Miyureno simply said, at a loss for words. They looked at each other in silence. The only sound filling the atmosphere of the empty café now was just the chirping of birds outside and the humming engine of a lonesome passing car.

The relationship Miyureno had with Maple runs deeper than with the rest of the catgirls. Though he seemed to be more outwardly friendly with those such as Chocola and Vanilla, who he would trade jokes and teases with very frequently, his subtle interactions with Maple were still something that made others believe that he was closest to her. After all, Maple was the least forthcoming of all the Minaduki catgirls. A close contender would be Azuki but she only withholds the tender feelings and emotions she had. Azuki is the kind who would brush off affection with brashness. In the end, that catgirl would be playful with those she was friends with. Maple, on the other hand, would restrain almost all her emotions. Kashou and Shigure thinks that, aside from her rare outbursts and moments of awkwardness with her close friend Cinnamon, Maple wouldn't reveal much else. They would always see her in a world of her own, silent about her own thoughts and feelings. She defaults to only displaying coolness and composure. In times of tenderness and sensitivity, she would answer dismissively or with a logical mind. Maple hardly gets sentimental about things.

Around Miyureno, however, she reveals certain parts of her personality that the others have never seen before or so frequently. Kashou would walk past the store-front and see the two of them sitting at that same booth with Maple laughing heartily as she chatted with him. Shigure also pointed out the way Maple would use her phone in-front of Miyureno. Though that may sound unsurprising as the smartphone-savvy American Curl behaves like that in-front of everyone, Shigure would claim to have seen Maple happily rocking herself back-and-forth when doing it around Miyureno. It was unlike the refined, classy catgirl to act that way. Somehow, she looked happier doing her usual phone-scrolling with him than with any other people, even her sisters. The other catgirls would also realise how much more jokes and giggles Maple would make in the times when they were in a conversation that had Miyureno in them.

On top of all that, the biggest giveaway would be how, when he leaves every day, Maple would resume to being her usual, restrained self. It's almost as if she is disheartened at him leaving. Of course, she did not admit to feeling that way when asked by her worried sisters. In fact, she would be in denial when they claim that she was being more emotionally expressive only when he was around. In these rare occasions, her actions would betray her: the way her behaviour and general outlook made a complete turn-around makes it obvious that she holds Miyureno to another level more than just the 'acquaintances' she claimed they were.

The unique relationship they have has made many of the catgirls ponder how it came to be. They only came to know of Miyureno two weeks after everyone got on board with working at La Soleil – that makes a total of 8 months of knowing him, including the 6 months he was out of Yokohama city. The way the two grew close to each other was rather fast-paced. Kashou and Shigure guessed that the two had realised how compatible they were when their first meeting went so well; their relationship was built on a strong foundation with very good impressions of one another.

Maple, being the patient kind, takes her time to warm up to others so to impress her the way that he did would grant him bonus charm points. Miyureno was the very first customer she attended to when she just began to work at La Soleil. Shigure would recall how nervous and unconfident she was about serving others. She would be afraid of sounding awkward or funny and feared being laughed at by others – though, Maple didn't admit it to Shigure. The cunning young sister of Kashou found out about Maple's problems through Cinnamon. For a few days, Maple insisted on working at the back-end of the café to focus entirely on making beverages. When the others would try to persuade her to try out something different, she would be very hesitant.

After much deliberation, however, Maple decided to give it a try. It was coincidence that when Miyureno visited the café for the first time and sat down at the booth that he would occupy every day after, Maple had gathered the little courage she had to try and play the service role. No one was sure what happened between the two but Kashous believes that inspiring a customer to take her recommendations _every-single-time_ he was at the café after that day has, in turn, made Maple very confident of her own abilities. So they thought that, since then, Maple has warmed up to Miyureno and is indebted to him for helping her gain self-confidence and being so nice to her on her first-time attempt.

Unfortunately, Miyureno is unaware of how much this meant to her. Kashou and Shigure would always tell him how close the catgirl was to him and that the way she behaves with him was noticeably different from the way she treats everyone else. All these would just be taken lightly and would casually slip his mind though. He admits that he enjoys being with Maple very much but he does not think that there was anything special between them. 'We just liked each other's company, that's all' was what he would say.

It pained Kashou, Shigure and all the others when they realised that Miyureno left for Tokyo for his 6-month course without letting Maple know.

Maple wouldn't say anything about his disappearance and how it affected her but it looked as clear as day to everyone else. When his absence was a few weeks fresh, the catgirl would stand by the register for most of her break, waiting in anticipation for her 'favourite' customer to come by. Her otherwise lulling ears would perk up and her sacramento-green eyes would go from looking dull and emotionless to excited and hopeful whenever the bell at the entrance would chime at times between 2pm and 4pm where Miyureno would normally appear. This solemn display by Maple, all of them agreed, was the most sorrowful expression she had shown before. The catgirl was normally strong and independent; she can mask her hurt and sadness really well. But she could not do the same when Miyureno went away.

Maple would wait so longingly and expectantly until Kashou received news from Miyureno that he was out for training at Tokyo for the next six months. After that, Maple just went back to being her normal self. Some of the catgirls would say that she seems worse off than before Miyureno came. Of course, his absence had left a void within all the catgirls as he had spent a great deal of time with all of them when he was around on almost every afternoon that he was off-duty. But the impacts of that emptiness resonated more strongly within the silent American Curl. She still acts in full denial of it too, even though they could easily tell otherwise through her actions.

Now that he's back, however, the rest of the Minaduki family held themselves back in the kitchen to allow the two the precious time they needed to warm up together again. For it was to the benefit and happiness of everyone to see Maple so being so open and happy again. Their attempts to cheer her up were fruitless. But now that the cause for her sadness is here, maybe he, himself, would return the smile back on her face. Besides, the tender moment that began their relationship took place in a similar setting: no one else, no catgirl, no Kashou, no Shigure was around. It was just the two of them.

Miyureno's charcoal-black eyes looked into hers, mesmerised at its glow and brilliant shine. They gaped wordlessly at each other for a long while, reading one another for emotions – a sign of any giveaways as to what they were feeling at this time

Maple was the first to concede. Breaking the silence and their gaze, she closed her eyes and smiled, "Syrup-coated walnut cheesecake, huh?"

The catgirl looked at the half-eaten cheesecake on his table, and then towards the empty tea-cup beside it. "So that should be the Fining's Earl Grey then, right?"

Miyureno let out a guilty chuckle, scratching the back of his head, his long and flowing black hair rustling lightly, "You know me…"

Maple shook her head and giggled softly.

"It's been too long, Maple." Miyureno wouldn't exaggerate it to this extent to Chocola, Vanilla, Azuki or Kashou a while ago but to her, he felt like it truly has been _forever_ since he had last seen her.

She smiled and nodded in response before sitting down on the opposite side of the table.

* * *

"Well? Well? What do you see, Azuki?"

" _Well_ , Nuts. If you would quit shakin' so much from your excitement, I would be able to tell ya!"

In the kitchen, Kashou was staring in horror at the stunt the catgirls were pulling off before him. Shigure, on the other hand, was simply giggling. Ever since Maple left, he tried to contain the curiosity of the catgirls – but to no avail.

"I-I would but Chocola and Vanilla won't stop pushing me around," the large-sized Maine Coon explained anxiously as she tried to hold on to her elder sibling who was standing on her shoulders and peeping to the side of the kitchen window.

"Chocola, Vanilla. No need to be so feisty~" Cinnamon said softly. She had both her hands squeezed onto her cheeks as she looked worryingly at the Coconut.

"Nyaaaaaaa~! Chocola wants see Maple-san and Miyureno-san!" Chocola whined as she tugged at Coconut's purple, shoulder-less shirt.

"Heyyy~" Vanilla, too, whimpered, "Let Chocola on, Coconut-onee-chan. It's not like Azuki is tall enough to poke her head out of the window…"

"EHH?! Wh-what did you just say?!" Azuki vexed. The petite catgirl began thrashing about on top of Coconut as she heard the pale-haired catgirl comment on her height.

"NYAA~! Azuki! Stop it! Now you're the one shaking!"

Kashou felt a large sweat-drop forming at the back of his head as he looked on to the bickering of the catgirls – his employees, the _very pride_ of La Soleil. His self-induced embarrassment was squandered abruptly when he noticed Coconut's legs weakening. The tower of catgirls began to sway dangerously side-to-side as a result.

"E-EH! Coconut! Hold on!" he rushed to support the large catgirl before any damage could be afflicted onto Azuki or any of her younger siblings below.

* * *

Back at the store-front, Maple wanted to know more about the reason behind Miyureno's long absence so she asked him about the 6-months he had spent at the Tokyo Fire Department academy. Since he had accounted this story to Kashou not so long ago, Miyureno saw no difficulty in telling her about it.

He detailed particular experiences he had during his many training exercises: the hardships he had faced, the heavy, bulky fire-fighting gear bearing down on him and the number of hours he had toiled in cramped, uncomfortable spaces with the constant pain of unbearable heat hovering over him. He told her about the restrictions he had to face as a trainee in the academy where he was denied his freedom from limited free time to repetitive, mundane chow at the cookhouse.

Maple's attention to him never wavered as he spoke, at great length, of his academy memories. She looked at him, a hint of interest existing – very unnoticeably so – in her eyes. Though she didn't seem to be smiling, he saw a slight curl form on her lips. Perhaps it was just the way how Maple's cat-like mouth seems more prominent than the other catgirls. Either way, he enjoyed conversing with her once again and he hoped that she was feeling the same way, too.

Inwardly, Maple felt glad that his time in Tokyo had managed to be so meaningful. However, the La Soleil waitress noted the abundance of negativity in his story.

"It doesn't sound like you've had a good time, though…"

Miyureno paused to think it through.

"…That's not entirely true... They were tough times, yes. The intensity and the expectations can be too much to bear sometimes."

He leaned back and looked at her with a bright, inspiring expression, "Yet… it was at those times when… I've never felt so alive."

Maple raised a brow at his last statement, not sure about what he meant by it.

Miyureno continued to explain, "I mean… the environment and the challenges; all of these together will show the true side of people. It broke us down, yes, but only to build us up for the better. With all the cadets knowing each other's character so well, we became closer than close. Obstacles we faced, we faced together. To say that I didn't enjoy it would throw so much value away… We earned the right to be called officers because of how tough the training was… and I made friends that I could trust my life with."

Maple looked silently at him for a while, allowing his words to sink in.

"I see…"

She tilted her head down and closed her eyes with a finger slightly touching her chin, "if that's the case, it must have given you a lot of mixed feelings, huh?"

 _And there she is, she hasn't changed that much, huh?_ Miyureno thought to himself with a smile. Indeed, this was Maple. Being so mature and cool-headed as she is, this catgirl can understand and empathise with complex feelings. She takes a lot of things seriously so she can respond quite thoughtfully to deep issues. That's just the way she is. It's one of her likable points. When you need someone to understand you, there is always her to rely on.

He gave the catgirl a brief nod.

"I'm glad that you managed to get something good out it then."

He laught and replied, "I'm just glad that I'm back home. Besides, I've got a lot of hours to put into this place in order to go back to being number one."

He took a sip from his cup. The catgirl in-front of him let out a soft giggle, "There you go being competitive about the café's 'number one fan' spot again…"

"Why, of course! It's a matter of pride!" he puffed out his chest as he playfully displayed himself in a dignified manner.

Maple sighed and peered at him with narrow, judgemental eyes, "You know, for the tough-sounding guy that you are, you coming to this kind of place can ruin that image."

"Eh? Don't pretend that you don't like it, Maple. Thanks to me holding that position last time, I'm sure it has made Kashou-san and Shigure-chan proud of you. I'm your first catch as a waitress and now look at how loyal I became to this café thanks to you."

Miyureno mocked her as he gently placed his cup on its coaster. It clinked against it softly.

"What, Miyureno? Are you trying to flatter me?", Maple giggled, "I think you come here so frequently just because its Kashou-san's café. He is your best friend, after all."

Miyureno laughed at her comment. _It's not true though,_ he thought, _I come here for many reasons other than it's because the place belongs to a friend…_

* * *

Meanwhile, someone was beaming brightly in the café kitchen.

"Nyanya!" Chocola cried out in surprise.

"What?! What?!" everyone, except Kashou, asked excitedly.

 _A few minutes ago, I was just about to break up their little attempt at spying on the two. How did I end up_ _here_ _?_ Kashou pondered in much frustration.

The shop owner was leaning onto the metal work-table closest to the only window looking into the café. His eyes were narrowed and he grunted uncomfortably as his catpanion shuffled about on his shoulders. He held her in place with his two hands tightly anchoring her at her calves. What made matters worse was that he was completely surrounded by Vanilla and all his sister's catgirls. They squeezed into him on all sides as they tuned in with laser-focus to whatever Chocola has to say… or report.

 _At least she wasn't wearing her work shoes…_ he thought, appreciating that, at least, his shoulders weren't in that much pain.

Chocola withdrew her head back into the kitchen, shutting the window to make sure her voice wouldn't be heard from the other side. "Chocola thinks she just saw Maple-oneechan giggle, nyaaa~! She looks so happy, talking to Miyu-san~!" she explained with overflowing glee in her voice.

This elicited a soft, prolonged gasp from all the other girls.

"Nyaaaaa~ is Miyureno-san warming up to Maple-oneechan again? She normally looks so cool, so composed but she's sounding like such a sweetheart right now~," Coconut whined in passion as she squeezed her cheeks with both hands and shook her body side-to-side like she was trying to get rid of all the tender feelings off of her in a violent fashion.

"Yes! Maple-chan can sound so cute sometimes, can't she?" Cinnamon commented about her close feline friend as she giggled with a hand covering her soft smile.

Vanilla nodded in agreement. She had her arms crossed with a hand brought close to her chin as she imagined the scene in her mind, "Tsk. Tsk. I guess any catgirl, no matter how reserved, will eventually open up their hearts to the right guy. Right, master?"

The short, slim girl looked at Kashou with a smirk, seeing how inconvenienced he was at the time. He responded with narrowed eyes, "You say that, Vanilla, but you don't really seem open-hearted yet…"

"Eh… I never said that you were _the_ right guy..."

"Ughh…" Kashou grimaced in overwhelming annoyance at his other catpanion who took the liberty to tease him at a time when he had his hands full, literally. "I swear, once this is over…"

"Kekeke. You sound so flustered, Kashou-san. That is very unlike you! You must be getting soft now…" Azuki butted in, snickering.

"I-I'm not! I'm not flustered!" he protested, thrashing his head about wildly in anger, looking as though he was ready to get his hands on the two smirking catgirls in-front of him.

"Careful now, Nii-sama. You wouldn't want to drop Chocola now, do you?" Shigure giggled as she saw the agitated look in her brother's eyes.

He let out a prolonged sigh in defeat and hung his head low as he was being verbally beaten up by the three of them.

* * *

"What about you, Maple?"

"Hmm? What _about_ me?" She cluelessly blinked.

"A lot must have happened to you too in the past 6 months. Anything interesting happened?"

She turned her gaze to the window. One arm propped up onto the table and she planted her chin on the base of her hand. She stared blankly outside, eyes narrowed in thought. After a while, she finally replied, "Nothing, I guess.

Her voice was monotonous, lacking excitement, "It's just been working in La Soleil. Just plain, old working."

"Really? Nothing else?"

"Nope."

"Nothing fun? Or happy?"

"Well… we _did_ have outings as a family once or twice. It was meant to be a happy, relaxing time but…" she trailed off.

Miyureno attempted to fill in for her, "… but you didn't end up enjoying it, in the end?"

"I… don't know… I can't recall anything about it." She shut her eyes, "But I guess you can assume that, since it's something I can't remember then, it shouldn't have been something I enjoyed, right?"

Miyureno, too, turned to gaze out of the window to his left. The initially lively look of the scenery outside turned dull. The once ocean-blue sky was now heavily overcast with solemn, grey clouds. The vibrant colours of the greenery surrounding La Soleil faded. All these as though a cruel reflection of the thoughts Maple was expressing at that moment.

Ironically though, the American Curl's expression and posture didn't reveal much about what she was feeling; the looks of the atmosphere surrounding the café seemed to portray it more than she, herself, did. Aside from looking disinterested since she started talking about her last half-a-year, her voice also sounded emotionless. In other contexts, Miyureno would've passed it off as her usual attempts to sound self-controlled and mature but now, he couldn't help but feel sad for her.

"I mean, you can see it that way, I guess…" he muttered.

"Regardless," –he picked off a sizable chunk of his cheesecake onto his desert fork and reached it out to her – "here's to a better set of 6 months ahead. Let's hope that, this time, you'll have memories that you would cherish, Maple."

Maple turned to look at him, noticing his offering of a share of the cheesecake he had ordered. She stared at it judgingly and then shifted her eyes to Miyureno. He sported a genuine smile on his face, his eyes happy and hopeful.

Maple puffed a shallow breath as a short chuckle and nodded, shooting a smile back at him. She reached out one hand towards Miyureno's. Seeing this, he was about to switch his hold onto the fork such that its back faced her so she may take it away from him. But instead – to his astonishment – she held his hand in place and brought her head close to the fork. Before he knew it, he was feeding her a piece of his cheesecake.

"Mmm~!" she moaned happily. "It may be cheesecake but I haven't had this specific in a while! It's kind of nostalgic!"

Indeed, to Maple, it felt as though the flavours could transport her back to 6 months earlier, before he began his sudden disappearance.

Miyureno was still staring at her, immobilised in shock. He then made many hard blinks and shook his head lightly, "Uh… y-yeah! It was something I have been craving for the longest time too!"

The two continued sitting there, enjoying each other's company. While one can be seen openly expressing his happiness at the moment they shared, the other showed subtle hints of this joy – aside from her elegantly waving tail and a slight shake to her crossed-legs underneath the table.

Chocola let out a happy chime as she tip-toed on Kashou and observed the precious moment happening between the two at the café store-front. It felt like a crime to be intruding on them at a time like this but Chocola felt that the effects of seeing them (Maple especially) all-smiles brought immense delight to her.

Another day ends at the quiet café as the sky begins to darken in a bid to welcome the night. The menacing-looking dark-grey clouds now looked as though it was making the lovely pastry shop emanate more warmth and feelings of comfort and relief. To those who worked there, everyone felt a sense of anticipation and excitement as someone who could potentially have a large impact on their lives has returned after leaving and taking that hope of happiness for a particular catgirl away from them. It was truly a happy moment in Patisserie La Soleil.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for one particular individual at the moment…

"Cho-… Chocola, I'm getting tired… can you get off please," he whined, looking up at her. His legs felt like jelly and his body was beginning to quiver in pain.

Little did he realise that Chocola still wore her maid outfit which had its high-profile skirt. By looking up, he made himself look into it accidentally.

"Master… you pervert…" Vanilla accused monotonously.

"NYAHHH~!" Chocola cried, "STOP, MASTER! CHOCOLA FEELS LIKE HER DIGNITY IS FADING AWAY, NYAHHH-HA-HAAA~!"

The little catgirl let go of her hold on the window ledge and began fidgeting uncontrollably as she became hysterical.

"Uwah…! Chocola! I'm gonna-!"

 _Crash!_

"Chocola, are you okay?!" Cinnamon asked with worry laced in her voice.

"Ahh…" was all the response the small kitten let out.

"N-Nyah! Chocola! Hang in there Chocola! Don't go to the light! Listen to my voice!" Coconut exclaimed in a spit of panic. She shook her little sister by the shoulders. Chocola just seemed to flutter about like sheet of paper.

"Kashou-san… I knew we shouldn't have let you pull off these kinda stunts…." Azuki muttered, using his own words against him.

"Nii-sama? Are you okay?" his younger sister questioned in genuine grief.

 _You know, catgirls, I fell too… a-at least Shigure shows some concern… sighhhhhh._

As commotion erupted all about him, Kashou just lay there in a daze, staring blankly at the ceiling of the kitchen.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **TaRouTaRhoe, 13 May 2018**

 **So, a rather heavy chapter compared to the previous ones. What a way to start putting the two together, huh?**

 **Let me know what you think of how I narrate their interactions. Is it fluffy enough? Is it realistic? Do their personalities makes sense?  
**

 **I'm all open to feedback so don't hesitate to leave your thoughts! Thanks!**

 **Until the next one!**


	4. Chapter 4: Cat fight

"Damn it," the young boy swore as he pulled on the sleeve of his bag.

The heavy downpour hammered his head, causing trickles of water to flow uncomfortably down his forehead, face and to his lips.

His dilapidated white school shoes – or rather, faded grey school shoes – flopped on the puddles that formed on the cracked pavements.

The drench attire he had donned on was slick and stuck to his body awkwardly.

It was not long before he stood by the steps that led up to his apartment building.

The boy clambered up it lifelessly as he looked down at his feet.

When he swung open the old wooden door, it creaked loudly in the usual fashion that he found rather annoying.

He frowned at it, as usual.

As per normal routine, he went past the stairs and to the back of the room where all of the mailboxes belonging to the building's residents were to be found.

He automatically aimed straight for his, ignoring the need to scan for his unit number as he had memorised its exact location relative to the whole wall.

As he stuck his key into it, a familiar voice spoke out to him from his far left.

"My, my, you're soaking wet," the crackly, old woman said.

The boy kept quiet.

Only the sound of the trickling raindrops outside and the tapping of the water droplets from his drenched clothes and bag onto the wooden floor filled the room.

He twisted the key clockwise without acknowledging her comment.

Just like the past months when he'd bump into her, the boy could care less about interacting with her. He couldn't bother interacting with _anyone_ for that matter.

"You're going to get a cold if you keep that up. You ought to take care of yourself, you know," Mrs Chen said, her voice full of concern and worry.

To any regular person, she would just seem like a kind elderly woman who takes the time to look out for those around her. Approachable and caring, she isn't deserving of the cold shoulder the boy was giving her recently.

But his sour mood dampened any hope of looking at her in such a manner.

To him, she was just getting on his nerves.

"My health is none of your business…" he stated coldly.

He flipped open his letterbox and found a pile of papers inside.

"Oh don't be like that."

The lady began walking to him; the soft sole of her slippers was gently dragged across the floorboards.

"If you fall sick or weak because of your carelessness, what would you mother and father think?"

The boy gritted his teeth through sealed lips as his grip on the pile of useless advertisement pamphlets tightened.

"What would _she_ think?"

This was a step too far for the boy. In an instant, fury and rage welled within him and burst violently out like a primed cannonball.

" _YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT SHE THINKS! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"_

In his moment of lashing out, he flung the stack of papers in the direction of the woman, causing her to reel back in shock.

She gasped at his reaction.

Instantly, the boy turned about and ran off and up the stairs, leaving the woman to stand alone in the mailroom.

The pamphlets spread and flew in all directions, harmlessly fluttering around her as they fell like autumn leaves from a withering tree.

Alone, she stood once more.

She looked glumly at the wooden floor.

As if the faded walls that were littered with cracks were not looking dull enough, the atmosphere she was left behind in made them look even worse than they seemed.

The heavy thuds of the bearing footsteps of the boy she sought to comfort faded away, eventually engulfed by the sounds of the rain.

The young boy ran up, tears welling in his eyes.

He himself was uncertain whether it was out of sadness or anger.

Whatever the case, he just wants to close himself off from the rest of the world right now.

For a while, he ran up numerous flights of stairs, not caring how much of it he had already gone over.

In his frantic rush, he did not notice the old man making his way down.

At the last moment, he tried to flick his body aside. In the end, he brushed roughly against him.

The old man was taken aback as he fumbled backwards, his wrinkly, old hands barely catching his fall. The brunt of the impact was absorbed by his weak arms.

Despite this, Mrs Chen's husband turned his head to capture who exactly ran past him with such recklessness, only to notice that it was _him._

"M-Michael!" he called out in a sputter.

Just like his wife downstairs, his voice was ladled with great worry.

The boy did not show any signs of stopping.

"Miyureno! Miyureno-kun!" he continued, using the boy's Japanese name this time.

Still the dark-haired boy continued on, ignoring him completely.

The old man, too, was eventually left by his lonesome.

The dark-haired boy had found his way to the front of his room. Hurriedly, he unlocked it and slid inside, slamming the door forcefully behind him. The sound of the hard-hitting force echoed down the desolate hallway.

On the opposite side, in the tiny apartment the boy occupied, he crumbled to the floor.

Streams of tears flowed relentlessly down his dirtied cheeks as he hugged his knees, caring less about the coldness of the wet fabric.

To him, it was nothing compared to the freezing snap he felt within the emptiness of his chest.

No, he wasn't angry.

This, he conceded to the reality that this was sadness.

For what seemed like forever to Miyureno, he remained crouched by the doormat, allowing himself to drown alone in his sadness and sorrow…

* * *

Nine days after his re-appearance in Patisserie La Soleil, Miyureno found himself sitting in the same booth that he always occupies and in a setting that reminded him of the times before he embarked for Tokyo.

As always, he came to the café after its hectic lunch-time service has died down. It was three in the afternoon on a Friday and the area surrounding the shop was as empty as it always was at this time. Today's weather was unlike the one present last Wednesday. Instead of being scorching hot, the city of Yokohama was currently in the middle of a heavy downpour. No one was out in the street at the moment. No one would want to expose themselves to the pelting rain and rushing wind and end up drenched and cold. Aside from being slightly damp from his short walk from his car to the café (as, to his annoyance, the winds were strong enough to blow his flimsy umbrella inside-out), Miyureno was safe and cosy within the confines of the building.

When he arrived, he shook off the droplets of water yet to have soaked his sweat pants. As he stood at the entrance, he was greeted by the fragrant smell of baked goods and freshly-grounded coffee beans mixed with the aroma of boiled tea leaves. The soft clinking of cutlery and tea-cups against their plates and coasters filled the air along with the hushed chit-chats of the few customers that were present. At once, he was encapsulated by the serenity of the French-stylised café.

It was not until ten minutes after his arrival did the remaining few stragglers from lunch-time take their leave and bravely set out to the rainy, dark streets. Miyureno sat as the only patron in La Soleil at the moment.

While he enjoyed the peacefulness of being alone and immersed in such a calming environment with privacy to himself and time to focus on the work he brought along, he quickly lost the energy to continue. His fifth duty at Kitakata fire station just finished that morning. He took a short nap at home to catch up on his loss of sleep from the 24-hour-long duty before coming to the café.

Today was the first of his two-day break before the next shift. Work was not really what he wanted to do at the moment, nor was it something his body and mind needed. While he would like some time to himself and relax, he also treasured some company – something that the catgirls were more than happy to give now that did not have anything else to do or anyone they needed to attend to right now.

Kashou and Shigure left not too long ago to meet up with one of their suppliers. The temporary management of the café was therefore left entirely up to the eldest catgirl, Azuki. Of course, Azuki being Azuki, the wryly catgirl whined and complained and acted as though she was indignant of the responsibility when, in reality (and subtly), she accepted it obediently.

While she managed to maintain control of all of her sisters for a time, she eventually got overwhelmed by their requests – or rather, pleas – for a break. On top of that, everyone eventually realised that Azuki has sucked the café dry of work to do. They almost ended up doing double jobs were it not for Miyureno being observant and noting something odd with the catgirls.

Earlier, he'd be gazing mindlessly out of the window to his left only to be interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. Chocola and Vanilla had paid a visit to his booth with a request for him to raise his legs as they swept the underneath of the table. Being a simple task as it is, Miyureno simply paid no mind to it and praised the two young ones for their diligence. They wholly accepted his praise with a sparkly beam to their faces. However, he would be concentrated on churning out a paragraph to the report he was working on only to be intruded on by another pair of catgirls: Maple and Cinnamon.

"Hmmm?" he simply asked as he maintained his attention towards his laptop screen. Cinnamon asked for him to raise his legs so that Maple could sweep the area under his table.

Not noticing anything amiss, he absent-mindedly said, "Oh."

He raised his legs yet again and Maple did as Cinnamon promised.

"Miyureno… you know it's hard to reach all the way in, right? Can't you just stand up for a second?" Maple whined at him as she tried reaching for the far end of the floor that was closest to the wall.

This seemed to have snapped Miyureno out of his engrossment. "Oh! Sorry Maple!" he exclaimed as he did as she suggested and started shuffling to the edge of his seat towards the two catgirls. Now that he was anchored back down to reality and became more aware of his surroundings, he realised something and stopped his side-shuffling momentarily.

He let out a plain, "Eh…?" upon this realisation.

The dumbfounded man then thought out loud, "…didn't Chocola and Vanilla clean here a few minutes ago?"

The two simply tilted their heads and looked at him with a puzzled expression.

After realising this, he decided to abandon his work for now and used this as an excuse to leave the booth (and his work) and look for something else to do. He was desperate to take his mind off of his stale report typing. He left the two catgirls behind as they just stared at him in a state of confusion.

Miyureno, curious, decided to look for Azuki and question here about this. He stood in-front of the kitchen door and noticed the 'staff only' sign. He shrugged and pushed the door open slowly and leaned in. Popping his head into the stuffy and warm kitchen, he saw Azuki standing near the central metal worktable at the opposite side to him. She had in her hands a clipboard which she was currently scrutinising intensely with a frown. He called out for her, which made the Munchkin catgirl jump in surprise.

"Ehhhhhhh?" she groaned in typical Azuki fashion, "Miyureno! Didn't ya read the sign? You're not allowed in here!"

"Yeah but it's just my head though…"

As ridiculous as it sounds, it was, indeed, just his head that went past the separation of the tiles between the café floor and that of the kitchen's. Azuki had nothing else to say, the narrow slits of her eyes were more than enough to display here irritation. Her tightening hold on her clipboard made it creak, as though it was crying in despair.

"I'm kidding," he spat out quickly and plainly. Azuki _was_ an easy one to tease, Miyureno thought. One would find her reactions quite humorous – until you piss her off, that is.

"I know I'm not supposed to be here. But I've got to talk to you about something…" he explained.

After convincing the grumbling catgirl, he made her admit that she has run out of things for everyone to do.

"I was thinking that we should just go through the to-do list again and make doubly sure that everyone is done with their tasks…" she says, a bit unconfident of herself and her reasoning.

The catgirl and Miyureno were now by the register. Playing with the pen-holder on top of the register countertop, Miyureno thought about what had just happened with the twins and the Maple-Cinnamon pair.

Because of that, he pointed out sarcastically, "Dust doesn't collect again in less than 5 minutes though…"

Miyureno received a verbal lashing from an irate Azuki soon after he made that statement. Accusing him of thinking lesser of her abilities to manage, a prolonged period of pleading and damage-control took place on his part.

To his surprise and relief, he narrowly avoided being pounced on by the small-yet-nimble catgirl who threatened to 'claw his eyes out' – or something like that...

He didn't want to stick around to find out, though. The eldest of the catgirls was infamous for getting into quarrels very easily. He ruffled his hair and let out a defeated sigh. No matter how truthful it seemed, he disliked the fact that he had to mince his words so as not to tick the catgirl's temper. It was all just a joke, anyways.

 _Azuki can be such a handful sometimes… She's pretty much a sensitive time-bomb,_ he commented to himself internally. The catgirl does hold herself with quite some pride, though. Teasing about it a bit was a seen as a declaration of war to her. He turned his attention back to her and offered, humbly, a suggestion to give everyone a break since it does not look as though they sacrificed quality for how quickly they cleared the to-do list she had on her clipboard.

Five minutes later, Miyureno was where he was at now. He was seated back at his booth along with all six of the Minaduki catgirls, happily consuming some pastries as snacks. He was just sharing about the latest incident he had attended during his duty the day before.

They had, on the table before them, two baskets of delectable butterfly-shaped cookies and two baskets of garlic bread. The tantalising smell of freshly baked cookie dough and the mouth-watering aroma of toasted bread made all their stomachs grumble. Despite putting so much effort to reject Miyureno's offering to a treat at his expense, the catgirls couldn't help but succumb to the temptation of the delicious snacks before them. With Maple and Cinnamon's help, Miyureno topped the food up with a pot of black tea and another pot of hot chocolate for their choosing. Together with his companions, the space at the booth felt a bit cramped but Miyureno appreciated their presence nonetheless.

"So just imagine the sight," he said with amazement in his voice as he detailed his story to them, "the whole riverbank is filled on both sides, all of them pointing their strong torchlights into the water as they searched for any signs of the man."

"Ooooooh~" they all went as they gasped in awe – except Azuki, Azuki pretended not to be so captivated, even though she had been showing him undivided attention the moment he began speaking.

"3 station's-worth of men and vehicles all partaking in this search. It was chaotic to co-ordinate but it had to be done, nonetheless." After saying that, Miyureno took a bite off of the crunchy piece of bread that he was holding on to.

"Oh!" Chocola yelped in surprise, her usual excitement and energy evident in her voice, "With so many fire trucks around, it must have been cool with all their sirens making sounds!"

He chuckled at her and nodded, "Yeah! Though, we didn't blare our horns all through the night. That would be annoying now, right?"

"It's in the river, right? The one by the mall? Isn't it very wide? Why didn't you use boats?" Vanilla asked as she spoke with her mouth filled with cookies, causing crumbs to fly to the table.

"We did! It just took a while to come. Our vehicles got there first so we had to do something in the meantime. It doesn't look good to see many fire-fighters just standing around."

Cinnamon was wiping the crumbs left behind by her young kitten siblings beside her with a cloth, "Now, now Vanilla, Chocola, don't eat with your mouth's full!" she pointed out, mimicking Shigure's voice. The two kittens didn't seem to pay her any mind.

"Wahh~!" Coconut smiled, "the effort that everyone goes through just for one person. Such selflessness really fills you up with joy and hope, doesn't it?" The large-sized catgirl quivered in delight as she shoved another morsel of garlic bread in her mouth.

Miyureno sent a smile her way and nodded. He noticed how aggressively she ravaged the snacks he bought for them, consuming them as though she hasn't eaten anything for days (when, in reality, it's only been three hours…). Crumbs that were remnants of the snacks she ate lingered on the sides of her mouth and on her puffed-up cheeks. Despite there being so many of said crumbs scattered on her lower face, the Maine Coon let out a wide grin at him. As if her mouth wasn't full enough as it is, she took in more pieces of food with bright, shimmering eyes.

"Either that, or it can fill you up with a whole-baguette's-worth of garlic bread, 5 whole pieces of cookies and 8 cups of hot chocolate apparently…", Azuki said as she leaned her cheek on her hand that was propped onto the table.

She narrowed her eyes to slits as she began her usual sly comments, "With the rate that you're eating, Nuts, you'll find yourself growing wider instead of taller, just you see! You need to show some restraint!... to think that you are no longer a kitten, what am I saying…"

The lightly-tanned younger sister was taken aback by her sister's comment. She stopped herself halfway through finishing another cookie. She began stammering nervously, trying to explain herself, "B-but that's because I am a Maine Coon though!"

Coconut was right, Maine Coons, being one of the largest of the catgirl breeds, will naturally have a bigger appetite. Though, Miyureno guesses that Azuki was right about slowing down her eating, though. Every time he saw her down food in the manner she always did, he was afraid she'd choke up.

She continued, "W-what's wrong with eating so much anyway, Azuki? A-at least I show appreciation for the food someone has treated us to! Unlike you, just sitting there, refusing and wasting it!"

Miyureno stammered after hearing Coconut using him as part of the argument against her older sister, "I-It's not really a problem thoug- "

Azuki interrupted him with another spat directed to Coconut, "Baka (Dummy)… Well maybe that's because I don't want to steal everyone's share away like what you're doing now!" She stood up and showed angry, piercing eyes towards the blonde-haired catgirl. As usual, the Munchkin cat took things to the next level.

"But there's more than enough to go arou-" Miyureno said.

"Well, yeah?!" Coconut slammed the table as she stood up, the cutlery on the table jumping, shaking and rattling in response.

She glared downwards to Azuki, similar fury in her eyes, "who are you to judge the way I eat. You may be my older sister but that doesn't mean that you can just say whatever you like. Or are you just trying to pick a fight, Azuki?"

The smaller catgirl growled in response, "I'll take you on, you overgrown kitten!"

"But guys…" Miyureno tried helplessly to calm them down regardless of how many times he was interrupted, "it's just snacks. There is a lot to go around and share. I don't mind if you don't take either, really. I just wanted us to have a nice break together…"

Ignoring the bickering of the two, Maple turned to face Miyureno, her usual cool, uncompromising green eyes looking through half-close eye-lids. "Don't bother, Miyureno-san. Once they've reached the point of calling each other names, they lose all reasoning."

As if to prove Maple's point, Miyureno heard the exchange of insults being hurled between the two angry catgirls. On top of the usual slurs they'd use on one another, they became more… desperate with their words.

" _You devilish imp!"_

" _Ya giant clumsy klutz!"_

And it goes on… Miyureno had to admit, he was impressed by the vocabulary they can churn as they sustained the to-and-fro 'gunfire'.

"You're right…" he said, partly amazed. It seems that they were in far too deep at this point.

The golden-haired American Curl was sitting next to him to his right. Miyureno, himself, was flushed all the way into the booth and towards the window with his body turned to face all of the catgirls as he shared his story… or was sharing his story.

To Maple's right-side was Coconut, who now stood menacingly with her eyes fixated on her sister. At the opposite side of the booth, in an order from the window to the aisle, were the twins, Chocola and Vanilla, followed by Cinnamon who was trying to stop the fight that was about to erupt. Alas, to no avail. Her soft voice was overwhelmed by the growling of the two. Azuki was unable to squeeze into either side of the table so she grabbed a chair from the standalone wooden tables in the middle of the room and moved it to the edge of theirs.

The catgirl in question had her palms tucked to her chest and facing Coconut, revealing her sharp nails. Coconut merely glared with a spark in her amber and blue eyes as she folded up the right arm sleeve of her La Soleil uniform.

"So we gonna go or what? Or are ya too chicken?" Azuki challenged with an evil smirk and a twinkle in her eye.

The much taller catgirl growled deeply in response and replied in a condescending manner with an equally mischievous looking grin, "I don't know… I'm just scared I'll end up hurting you too badly…"

"WHY YOU-!" the Munchkin catgirl hissed as she pounced on the younger Minaduki catgirl.

"Uwah!" she yelped in shock.

Coconut managed to react to the nimble movements of her much smaller opponent and pounced back, her large body overwhelming and pushing against Azuki's, propelling both of them to the floor a distance away from the booth. An indiscernible flurry of yelps, grunts and hissing erupted as their rough fighting eventually encapsulated them into a ball of dust. One could hear scratching, thudding and the tearing of fabric coming from their direction.

Miyureno genuinely tried to put his finger on the way this fight broke out in the first place. It began so simply with Coconut innocently complimenting the Japanese fire-fighters from his story and somehow, one thing led to another. Before you know it, there an intense sibling brawl is taking place right in-front of him. Judging from the disappointed look of the other catgirls and a lack of panic in their eyes, they appear to be accustomed to such things. He did hear about how prone Azuki and Coconut were to fighting. Some of the catgirls such as Maple admitted to fighting with the aggressive Azuki but Miyureno didn't expect it to take place so easily. Despite being in the café before, this is the first time he is seeing the two of them fight.

Miyureno and the four remaining catgirls heaved a sigh as they left the booth and attempted to split the two catgirls up in order to break the fight.

After much hassle – and too much risk-taking on his own life and the very integrity of his skin – Miyureno and the rest of the catgirls had managed to stop the quarrel between Azuki and Coconut.

They split themselves up to take care of each catgirl. With their uniforms tattered, shredded and stained and their once tidy hair now a tangled mess, the rest had to patch them up and make them look presentable again. The work-day was not over yet, anyway. Not wanting customers to stumble into such an unsightly display was one thing, not wanting Shigure and Kashou to find out was a whole other level of 'nope', the catgirls agreed. Miyureno had his motives for helping them elsewhere, however. Each of them sported a few visible red scratches which played on life-saver mind-set of the man.

It took a good while but eventually, Azuki and Coconut got changed into a new set of their La Soleil work attire. Their unkempt hair was tidied up with the help of their sisters and Miyureno had lent a hand to treat their numerous small scratches.

All the catgirls, with his help, had persuaded the two to _try_ and reconcile with one another. At first, one would blame and pick on the faults of the other but they eventually found themselves agreeing to let the issue slide. Unfortunately, that's all there was to it, it was a mere compromise rather than a proper resolution. Everyone could still feel the tension remain between the two catgirls.

Trying to brighten up the mood a bit, Miyureno suggested that they all return to their seats and continue enjoying the snacks they had on the table. While the other catgirls happily complied, Coconut and Azuki merely followed silently both sporting a grumpy expression on their faces. Chocola and Vanilla got seated at their usual seats while Coconut flushed herself into the side where Miyureno would sit, a distance away from Azuki. The Munchkin cat sat back down at her usual place at the end of the table and towards the aisle.

When Miyureno came by, he noticed that the pots of beverages were close to emptying and cold so he took them to the register where the tea and hot chocolate dispensers were. At the same time, Maple and Cinnamon were begrudgingly cleaning up the mess caused by their sister's brawl. The younger of the two, Cinnamon, swept away some grit off the floor while Maple was putting toppled seats back to their respective tables in an orderly fashion.

Maple caught Miyureno carrying the two teapots and was heading to the register so she went after him. Cinnamon joined the rest at the booth once she was done with the sweeping. She sat beside Vanilla again.

Miyureno was about to pull the lever on the hot chocolate dispenser before he was interrupted by Maple behind him.

"Miyureno, you dummy," she said. "Have you forgotten who's the customer around here?"

He turned to look at her. She stood there with lightly crossed arms and a playful frown. Just like she always would, Maple was mocking him sarcastically. The catgirl went over to where he was and snatched the teapot he was holding away from him.

"Haha… You were quite caught up with tidying up the place so I figured I could lend you a hand?," he explained, not that convinced about his own argument, himself.

"Miyureno-san, you're not making sense. You're the one paying for this after all."

"I know. I just wanted to help."

Without looking at him, she continued about her business, "Of course, but it's fine. I've got this. It's my job, anyways."

 _Huh_ , Miyureno pondered. _She sounds upset..._

Maple went about to do what she did best. She reached into a mini-fridge under the counter and took out milk, another kind of milk, and… condensed milk? Miyureno wasn't too sure. He didn't think much about it; he wasn't good with these sorts of things. She, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly what to do. She moved about in a systematic pattern and with great confidence as to what she needs and where could she find it. It was pretty much clockwork, watching her do all that.

She seemed frustrated about something, however. There was no evidence of a frown or any show of anger in her expression but he could tell by the way she was moving about. There was a small hint of rushed, deliberate and somewhat-aggressive movements: taking the tea leaf stocks was done with a barely noticeable yank off the shelf, putting the used stirring spoon into the sink was more of an act of reckless dumping, causing it to clang on the metallic surface, and each step she took around the register seemed heavy, as though she wanted to drive her foot to the ground. She did well to conceal these movements but he caught on to it. The way she was talking to him at the moment added more to his suspicion that she something was bugging her.

Despite her previous words of assurance, he decided to stay with her.

"You okay?" he asked.

Unfazed, she poured each ingredient with great focus and careful, yet, deft hands. Once done, she went to the dispenser where Miyureno was before she came by. Yanking on the tap, she responded to his statement while waiting for it to fill up with chocolate.

"Yes," she stated while staring at the brown liquid pouring out of the tap, her bright green eyes looked intense. She looked like she was trying so hard to persuade even herself of what she had just said.

Miyureno was leaning on the counter's workspace to her right and at the peripheral of her vision. He slid his hands into his pockets and just joined her in blankly looking at the hot chocolate pouring out of the dispenser.

The expression on the American Curl shifted. She loosened up a bit as she let out a sigh and conceded to the worries of the person accompanying her.

The teapot was now full of hot chocolate so she went to where Miyureno was and placed it on a silver tray next to him. Staying in place, she grabbed the one containing Earl Grey tea and took out its used tea-balls.

"No… I'm not," she admitted flatly.

She took the box of tea leaves beside her and placed a small amount of them into fresh, empty tea-balls before dropping them into teapot. She then added a few more… things… in there that weren't familiar to the fireman.

He took a few steps to the dispenser and took the teapot away from her just as she turned around. He gave her shocked response a quick smile as he assisted her in placing the teapot under the hot water tap and letting it fill up. He had his back to her as he looked at the water pour into the pot he held.

"So what's wrong, Maple?"

She clicked her tongue in a show of sarcastic annoyance, "tsk… you're a handful, you know that? Didn't I tell you not to help?"

He ignored the comment, a small curl forming at the corner of his lips that she couldn't see.

She let out a breath as she answered his question, "I don't know…

"I suppose I'm just irritated with those two."

"Coconut and Azuki, you mean?"

"Yeah, their bickering and fights don't seem to be stopping."

She rubbed the side of her arm. She felt rather uneasy, admitting her thought sand feelings to him, "I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not like this is unusual to me. It's become somewhat a regular occurrence to the Minaduki family…

"But that's the problem, see? I don't see the two of them ever putting in effort to end this. Sure, they will stop for a time and agree for a truce but… with each fight, I feel like they are drifting further away from a permanent fix. After every quarrel, there is always this uneasiness between the two that is getting worse.

"It just annoys me how those two, especially Azuki being the eldest and the ideal model big sister for all of us to follow, can't just sit down and settle their differences once and for all."

The teapot was now full of hot water, he turned and went back to where he was before by the countertop. He placed the filled pot on the silver tray beside the one containing hot chocolate. He stood beside Maple again. The blonde catgirl was leaning on the workspace behind the counter. She was looking to the right where her sisters were all seated. Miyureno joined her and saw that they have moved around a little.

Cinnamon decided sit beside Coconut, the shy catgirl was trying to converse with her younger sister who was staring out the window with a frown and a snarl to her lips. Chocola and Vanilla shifted, too. One was at Coconut's side of the booth whereas the other, Chocola, remained at their original side. They were both trying to look gleeful as they engaged Azuki who had her arms crossed and was slouching in a display of stubbornness. She, too, looked cross. It was sad to see the young kittens trying so hard to make things seem brighter with their eldest sister.

It was quite an unusual sight, Miyureno had to admit.

"There is no excuse for Coconut, too." The second-eldest catgirl continued with traces of worry evident in her voice.

"She may be a kitten but she is an elder sister now. The young ones look up to her. It's unhealthy for them to be constantly exposed to this bad behaviour."

 _Kitten?_ Miyureno's thoughts lingered on that specific word for a while. Was the largest of all the catgirls still _that_ young that she was still considered a kitten? So those times when Azuki would mockingly call Coconut a kitten weren't insults? Maple was definitely not joking about this now so it dawned on him that he may have been fooled by the large stature and mature look of the catgirl in question. He feels the need to confirm this but concluded that now was not the right time.

He brought his focus back to the person beside him. "I understand what you're trying to say Maple – and you're right. They can't go on like this forever. Somehow, they have to swallow their pride and make ends meet or risk straining their relationship permanently when it's too late."

Though Maple seemed clearly distraught by what has happened, he felt like it wasn't something that he can help much with. He had no context and was therefore reluctant that he may share a suggestion that seemed ignorant or insensitive. In other words, he can't do anything impactful at the moment. He felt strongly inclined to help, seeing how it badly affects his good friend's family at large but he needed to spend more time with them in order to truly understand the background and provide meaningful support as a friend.

His helplessness upset him but he understood his position clearly. For now, the least he could do was cheer up the distressed companion beside him.

Maple has surprised him with what she has told him so far. She always gave Miyureno an impression that she was a composed and calm person who would tackle problems the way she believed it should be done, unwilling to replace her beliefs for that of others.

She was strong and confident of herself and reflects that kind of aura to others effortlessly. Any weaknesses or vulnerabilities are well hidden by her expressions and words, likely because she believes herself more than capable of dealing with her own problems.

Basically, she is an independent catgirl, and he respects her greatly for that.

But this issue seems to disturb her more so than usual. To have to express worry in the way that she did was unlike her.

His thoughts dwelled on why was she so willing to open up such tender feelings all of a sudden. Perhaps this particular incident hit her too close to home. It was family, after all.

Whatever the case, this shows more qualities to adore her for, Miyureno concluded. Behind the cool façade, she had an affectionate part within her that looked out for the rest of her sisters. To him, she willingly takes the responsibility as the second eldest in the family. Their fights may sound ridiculous, revolving over small things but Maple is concerned enough to worry about the problem in the long term. This perspective she shared all the more proves her maturity. But not only that, it proves that she cares… a lot.

"I wouldn't have thought you'd react this way to their fights, Maple."

She let out a nervous laugh and looked down at the workspace top in embarrassment, "I know. It sounds like I'm over-reacting to useless things…"

"But I get it, though."

"Hmm?" She showed him a questioning look.

"You see your young sister Coconut fighting with the eldest and the supposed-in-charge Azuki. With Azuki out of the question, it's now up to you, the second eldest, to fix this problem, right?"

Not wanting to sound so shallow, he quickly added on.

"But, knowing you, you wouldn't worry about this just because it's your responsibility. You care for your family enough to show so much willingness to fix this, even if it doesn't involve you much. It's just some bad blood between Azuki and Coconut, right? One can walk away after each fight is resolved like how the others would but _you…_ you wouldn't."

Maple's confused expression did not let up. She now raised a brow, trying to understand where the man is getting at.

"I believe that it's because you care deeply about them. You're not getting desensitised or fed-up the more you see them quarrel. Rather, you feel more and more hurt after seeing each conflict between them. It looks silly, it may seem like a small thing but, as you said, it harms the family in many ways."

"You're right but," she tilted her head slightly, "how does that help?"

It actually never occurred to him that she was looking for advice from him. Miyureno thought that Maple simply wanted to let some bottled-up anxiety out. It appears that she is caught in a tough spot: she had no idea what to do. Regardless, he would've made a suggestion either way. He just found this behaviour quite uncanny of her.

"I don't think I can suggest anything concrete. I know nothing about Coconut and Azuki, at least not as much as you do, Maple. But, if I were to give any advice, I'd say that you should approach each of them personally and really dive into the issue with them. Find out the problems, their thoughts and their feelings and work from there."

Miyureno understood that he can't suggest actual actions to take at the moment so he did his best to give the distressed catgirl some sort of direction.

He has dealt with many issues regarding his men's social relationships that prevented them from performing normally back at the fire station. The issues she raised sounded similar in nature so he knew what guidance he could give to her right now… he thinks.

Maple was mindlessly staring at the silver tray below her. Her idly fingers traced the lining of the tray as she was deep in thought about what he had just told her.

Miyureno hummed thoughtfully in his mind. He supposed it was not something so easy for her to do. She may be the second-eldest in the family but she kept to herself for the most part. When it comes to the soft, fluffy topics about feelings, emotions and relationships, Maple is pretty much a fish out of water. From what he had discovered in the times he knew her, she gets pretty awkward when such conversations come up.

So, he tried to give her some assurance, "It's not something so easy to do, I know. But talking things out will be the fix you're looking for."

He diverted the dialogue to cheer her up a little and prevent her from getting even more worried.

"Though this comes to show, really. How wonderful and caring of a sister you can be."

She faced him again, taken aback from the sudden compliment.

She looked down and sighed, "It's a tough job though. My sisters are quite the handful. It's a wonder how Azuki manages not to lose her mind from this."

Miyureno laughed at her lightly, "It comes with practise, Maple. You're doing good. Though you haven't done anything, sometimes it's the thought that counts, you know.

"You worrying about them speaks volumes about your affection to them. Who knew the cool, down-to-earth Maple would be someone so caring, huh?"

She leaned away from him, smiling – chuckling, almost – she scratched at her cheek, "I wasn't looking for flattery now, Miyureno… and you make me sound like I'm incapable of being someone caring."

He flinched at his mistake. Before he could say anything, she blurted out flatly.

"I'm kidding."

… _oh…_

"But I know what you're trying to say… so thanks." She looked back to him with her jewel-green eyes sparkling, revealing a sincere, modest smile.

Miyureno kindly returned it with a bright grin of his own.

"Come on," she said softly, "I've whined long enough and the rest must be wondering what's taking us so long."

He nodded his head and grabbed the serving tray before them at its handles on both sides and proceeded to walk out of the register area.

"If there is anything else you need, don't be afraid to ask me alright?" he told the catgirl. She was now walking beside him.

Despite finally finding an end to her anxiety, Miyureno was aware that it was only temporary. Looking back to their conversation, nothing solid has been offered to help her. So, just in case, he made sure to let her know that help was just around the corner.

Or at least… whenever he was around…

Their serious talk ended there as they joined the rest at the booth. For the next half-an-hour, the shop remained devoid of customers as the group enjoyed each other's company as much as possible, trying to get over the recent feud with happy stories, heart-warming beverages and delicious snacks. It went back to becoming the nice, comfortable break that it was a while ago. Miyureno and his company continued to enjoy each other's presence in the midst of the rainy, cold weather outside.

* * *

 **TaRouTaRhoe, 13 May 2018**

 **This is a much longer chapter than the previous ones.**

 **I hope that it was enjoyable!**

 **For your info, the first three chapters were initially meant to be one chapter on its own. In fact, it has been published that way for some weeks now. So last time, this story has two chapters and was 20k words long! I figured that splitting them up would be better and more digestible for you guys. What do you think?**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **See you in the next one!**


	5. Chapter 5: Dinner

A few hours later, the sun was beginning to set but the rainclouds have yet to show any signs of breaking apart. The rain-drops were relentless as they made pattering sounds when they splatter outside the window where Miyureno was seated.

As much as he wanted them to hang around longer, the inner catgirl-sense-of-responsibility that they held highly – or, at least, that's what Vanilla claimed – made them feel more and more guilty the longer they stayed there neglecting their duty. They were thankful for the break though, at least they made that clear. So for the past few hours, Miyureno was back to slaving on his report that was just about done.

He was seated with his back flushed against the leather behind him, tea-cup in hand. He took a sip as he reviewed his work. The delicious liquid funnelled down his throat, warming the rest of his body. He hummed in delight. Maple, as a way of showing gratitude to the help that he had offered to her a while ago, brought a fresh pot of her own blend of Earl Grey tea.

"I've never really experimented like this before so I thought it'll be good to see what you think," was what she told him when it was handed to him.

It had the usual aromatic, orange-peel taste like ordinary Earl Grey teas only, this one had a freshness and zest to it. He found it refreshing to have a new taste to it.

He concluded his work by sending it as an email to his boss. Shutting down his laptop, he set its screen down and in a few short minutes, he was done packing. The laptop bag was lazily placed on the left side of the table.

Seeking a way to unwind his exhausted brain, he took out his phone as he continued to drink from his tea-cup and refilling it when necessary.

He did this until the sun had fully set and the café was now surrounded by darkness. The heavy rain has now subsided to a drizzle. The yellow glow of the street lamps outside looked hazy from the humid air surrounding the city after the day's-worth of downpour.

He then heard footsteps approaching.

"Miyureno-san." He heard someone call.

When he looked up, he saw Maple, looking as expressionless as she always was. She sat down beside him.

"What's up, Maple?" he said as his attention returned to his phone.

"Azuki got a call from Shigure and Kashou and they sa-

…What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Playing."

On his phone screen, Maple could see a… 2D cartoon character of a cat – not a catgirl, but a _cat_ – doing consecutive cartwheels across the screen. With each tap that Miyureno made, the spinning cat bounced up. He was navigating obstacles with these controls

"…what?"

"What 'what?' I'm bored, okay? Give me a break~" he groaned lazily as he continued his mindless tapping.

He eventually miss-clicked, causing the cat to spin into the lava below it. It exploded, a large ball of grey fur forming in its wake. The poor cat let out a loud, long meow.

-Game Over-

Maple was taken aback by the suddenness of it all.

"It looked so dumb… and cute. Why did it get so brutal out of nowhere?" she commented, looking let-down.

"Dunno. This isn't that brutal though right?"

"But that cat just blew up and all of its fur was flying around…"

"That's it though, isn't it? Jeez Maple, if you consider _this_ gory then you haven't seen anything yet…"

Maple looked at him with a small frown and clicked her tongue.

"Show of."

She then sighed when she realised why he seemed so unaffected by the game's death scenes.

"I guess I understand. I bet you've seen worse in the job that you do, huh?"

Miyureno simply shrugged, "Pretty much. Yup."

"Anyways, isn't it still kinda cute? It's meow-ing makes it adorable."

He shoved his phone screen to her face.

"Look!"

Miyureno purposefully let the grey cat plummet to its doom. Again, it exploded in a ball of fur.

Maple, petrified, looked at it with wide eyes. She still sat in her usual refined way, with her back straight and her arms crossed.

She muttered barely inaudibly to him, "M…Miyureno… get that out of my face…"

Noticing her death glare, he complied immediately and chuckled nervously to himself.

"Heard it's miaow? Adorable, right?"

She shot him a glare.

"No! What're you talking about? That's a sad meow!"

He simply looked at her in disappointment.

"Doesn't sound that sad though… Oh, fine. Just remind me not to play this in-front of you then."

And that was the end of that.

Recalling what she had said before being distracted by the cat game, he asked, "You were talking about Shigure and Kashou?"

"Oh, yes. The two of them called and just told us that they may be held back until late at night. Something about the supplier being stubborn."

"Well, business is business I guess."

"Yes but that's not the point. Knowing the guy, we expected them to take longer than their usual meetings with other people. We just have a problem about dinner now..."

Miyureno stopped indulging himself with the 2D cat-platformer game and looked at Maple, curiosity on his face.

"Dinner? You guys need me to bring you out to eat?"

"Well... not really. All of us are bell-holding catgirls so we can all go out on our own without anyone to look after us. So, we can get our own dinners."

She looked down as she fiddled with her fingertips, "It's just that Shigure and Kashou have forgotten to give us any money and…"

She began to mumble very softly, "…we have tried put together what each of us have in savings that weren't kept by Shigure or Kashou to see if we can make do. And um… we discovered that it could only be enough for four of us. And that's just those cheap fast food burgers that is fattening and unhealthy. A-And Coconut's appetite pretty much counts as four catgirls so... so we… ummm…"

The skittish catgirl blabbered on as she glanced sideways, trying to avoid his gaze. Miyureno just smiled at how far out of her own comfort zone she was.

The catgirls must have planned all this and arrowed Maple to take the shots and make the deal with him. Because of that, she now sat there miserably sweating herself off as she made an embarrassing proposal.

He didn't mind helping them though so her nervousness was unnecessary.

"Sure, I can pay for dinner tonight."

Maple looked at him with wide eyes, the redness from her cheeks still lingering from her hard blushing in shame.

Suddenly, he heard cheers from in-front of him.

Behind the divider from the booth ahead of him, a very happy Chocola jumped out, both arms in the air.

"Yaay~ Vanilla, did you hear? Miyu-san agreed to help us get our dinner nya~!"

The catgirl she was talking to also popped out from behind the divider. Though she did not look as delighted as her twin sister, a small smile was present on her face. Vanilla smiling at him, Miyureno felt like he was witnessing something rare.

She made a short hum with a nod of her head, "Mm. This is a good start to your retribution of our trust."

 _You're still bugged out about that…?_ Miyureno thought with frustration.

Unexpectedly, the other catgirls popped out with the two. Before he knew it, he was looking at Cinnamon, Coconut, Vanilla, Chocola and Azuki. All of them looked at him with gratitude. One by one, they thanked him and expressed their happiness at being able to 'avoid starving for the night' – which is a bit overly-exaggerated to Miyureno.

It seems that catgirls took their regular mealtimes quite seriously. Knowing this information could be useful in the future, he nodded and made a mental note to remember this.

They assured him that tonight's expenses will be paid for by their two owners. Miyureno wasn't so particular about it since he was rather close friends with Kashou.

He instructed the girls to let him know when they are ready to go so that he can get the car ready. Apparently, he misunderstood Maple's request as she began to quickly make things clear to him.

"N-no! Miyureno, we are okay with just having some money. We can settle with finding ourselves a place to eat."

Cinnamon added, in her usual gentle tone, "Yes! We have troubled you enough anyway, Miyureno-san! No need to go out of your way again to drive us too~!"

The rest of them did not hesitate to add on in assuring him that they were all fine with just being helped financially.

"Nonsenseeee…" Miyureno said, tilting his hand in a dismissive wave.

He explained how he didn't mind having some company for the night. His plans otherwise would be to have gone home and slurp up a tasteless cup of noodles all on his own. He did not hold back in expressing how much he was looking forward to having dinner with them.

After all, he knew them for a long time now so a hang-out with them is long overdue.

Azuki responded with her usual fed-up groan, "Ehhhh, Miyureno~ If you're tryna' flatter us with your coolness this is pushin' it a bit, ya know."

Maple, after giving him a thankful smile, added to her sister's teasing as she looked at her fingernails and tilting her head elegantly.

"Azuki is right; you're trying too hard."

"You guys missed the point completely…" he muttered, a dark cloud hanging over his head as he hunched in defeat.

"Nya~ don't take what they said to heart, Miyu-san~!" Coconut chimed with a cute smile.

"Azuki and Maple-oneechan are just too proud to admit their gratitude to you."

The tanned catgirl placed a hand on her chest as she proudly announced, "But I appreciate it! So _thank you_ , Miyu-san~!"

He was caught speechless, not knowing how to react to such a heartfelt comment.

On the other hand, Azuki and Maple took note of what their heterochromatic-eyed sister had said.

"Why youu… "Azuki growled.

"Did you seriously just steal my spotlight and make me look like a bad guy…?" Maple said with a slight sign of anger in her voice.

Chocola, Cinnamon and Vanilla laughed at them and added on to Coconut's thankfulness, sending heartfelt praises his way.

So, as arranged, Miyureno hung around for a while longer as he waited for the shop to close down. Once the girls were done with wrapping things up, they went upstairs to got changed into their day-clothes. He grabbed his laptop bag and umbrella before leaving the café.

Outside, a slight drizzle was still present and puddles of water collected on the square cemented pavement surrounding the shop. He walked over to the road and began to cross it, his running shoes making squishy noises each time he took a step on the slick, wet asphalt road.

He found his black 7-seater car at the parking lot, the only one remaining. He hopped in, revved it up and drove to the road directly outside the main entrance of the shop.

He increased the output of the air-conditioning unit to allow cool air to fill the entirety of the hot, stuffy car. His radio was still tuned in to the pop-song station, the speakers loudly blasting it away. He lowered the volume such that it merely adds on ambience within the vehicle rather than making it seem like a karaoke sing-a-long booth.

Miyureno waited there, hands on the wheels, tapping his fingers and feet to the beat of the music and subconsciously singing along until he noticed movement in the café.

The catgirls all came out together with three umbrellas with them. They were all wearing the same outfits he'd always see them in outside of their work hours. They stopped right by the kerb and next to his car.

It seemed like they were having a discussion.

"So… who will take the front seat?" Maple asked, holding on to the umbrella that she shared with Cinnamon.

"Onee-chan, do you really need to ask that question? Nya-haha! Chocola thinks everyone knows the answer to that!"

"Hehe," Azuki snickered, "even Chocola knows… Go on then Maple, go on."

"Yes! Miyureno-san is closer to Maple-oneechan anyways so, knowing how these humans treasure the front passenger seat, it only makes sense for _you_ to go shotgun."

Cinnamon began to shiver, "S-s-s-shotgun? Maple-chan? M-Miyureno-san?"

She began to let out a prolonged gasp before Vanilla stopped her.

"Cinnamon-oneechan, I think Coconut meant another kind of shotgun…"

Maple felt threatened at how she got cornered by all her sisters like this.

"Huhhh?! How did you all so easily agree on saying that it's supposed to be me?! That's not fair!"

She began waving her hands frantically up-and-down in frustration as she continued her nagging, "Why can't it be Azuki? She is the eldest so it made sense to have her in that seat! There is good reason to put Coconut and Cinnamon there too! With their bust a-and mature figures, they'd be eye-candies!"

Everyone let out an exasperated look at her as the irate catgirl droned on…

"And-and there is Chocola and Vanilla too! They both can keep him entertained the whole time! They can _both_ fit at the front seat too I think! So it's double the fun, right?

"See?! It makes sense for _ALL_ of you to be at the front passenger seat! It can't be just me! It's not fair! Not fair!"

Meanwhile, in the car, Miyureno stared at the on-going commotion outside.

"What are they standing around out there for…?"

He pressed on the button to lower the window to his right and called out to the six catgirls in the middle of their bickering.

"Hey!"

They all quietened down and looked at him.

"Ya'll gonna come in or what?"

He looked at Azuki who was standing under the umbrella Coconut was holding up for her.

"Here Azuki, you can sit at the front."

The Munchkin Cat looked at him with hollow eyes and pointed to herself in disbelief, "Me? Why meee?"

This caused giggles to erupt amongst the catgirls as they teased her while she had her guard down and was standing frozen on the spot.

"Yeah, Azuki. You can sit at the front," Maple mocked as she tip-toed happily to the door leading into the rear passenger seats of the car.

With a sigh, the short catgirl complied and hopped on. Within minutes, Miyureno and the catgirls were departing the carpark and soon, La Soleil went out of view.

* * *

Nothing too extravagant was planned for dinner that night. Miyureno basically found a nearby restaurant to satisfy the individual tastes of each catgirl. The place was small and humble. It was out of the way of the bustling city centre and located towards the suburbs. As a result, it was not so crowded at dinnertime.

Miyureno and the 6 catgirls found themselves seated at a long booth that could fit everyone nice and snug. A waitress was standing nearby, patiently awaiting their orders. Miyureno could tell that each of them was holding back on their orders though. Naturally, they felt bad as they were hinging on his pockets to pay for whatever they will be asking for.

Even if he was going to get paid back by Kashou and Shigure, Miyureno didn't mind spending a lot on them, it wasn't every day that he got to have dinners like this. Trying to convince and argue against 6 of them would be tough so he decided to be more deceptive about his plan.

He set his eyes on a distressed Coconut. She was eyeing the menu with shaky eyes as she bit down hard on her lip. It seemed like she was about to melt down from the pressure at any moment. If it wasn't so torturous to her, Miyureno would have laughed out loud at her cute display.

The poor catgirl also does not want to burden him by asking for the amount she usually does – which for a Maine Coon, it would be a whole lot more than any other catgirl.

So Coconut, alone, was keeping the waitress waiting and looking intently at her as she struggled to finalise her decision. Everyone else has already made their preferences known. Eventually, she hesitantly concluded with going for a bowl of chicken karaage.

"So that will be one bowl for you, ma'am?" the waitress asked.

Coconut looked down glumly, "Yes… only one… nothing else."

And this is where Miyureno's plan comes in...

"You sure, Coconut?"

Coconut clasped her eyes tightly shut and her ears hugged her head closely as if she never braced for this sudden prodding.

"I mean, the tempura don looks quite nice too, doesn't it?"

The poor catgirl shuddered some more.

"What about the mini beef hotpot? Kinda looks nice to have something warm for the cold weather now, no?"

Inevitably, this was the last straw for Coconut. He was essentially laying out the cards for her; all the chances were hers to take right there and then. So, in a classic hungry-frenzy Coconut fashion, she seized it.

"YES! YES!" she yelped out, grabbing the edge of the tables with both hands tightly.

Her eyes were shut while she ordered all the suggested dishes with a desperate expression. The waitress jotted them down accordingly with a blank face, oblivious to the catgirl's reaction.

"Oh," Miyureno said, "please add on one more pork cutlet, one teriyaki chicken set, one sashimi platter, one yakitori set aaaaand… one complete set of assorted takoyaki flavours."

"NYA-!" the other catgirls gasped in shock, flinching back with faded eyes and a mouth widely agape.

Coconut's soul seemed to have withered away from her body as she melted down to the table, her chin propping a lazy head up.

Yes, this was his master plan all along. Knowing how futile and useless it would be to argue against the combined might of all 6 of them to take on more orders, he decided to pick on the most vulnerable factor of it all.

Coming to the restaurant many times before, Miyureno already knew exactly what he was going to order before they even got to their seats. All he did while the rest browsed their menus was studying Coconut closely; seeing what food item in the menu she would stare at the longest in an attempt to narrow down her options. Thus, the list of all such dishes went flying out of his mouth.

"Geez, you dummy," Azuki began.

"I know we woulda' denied your offer but… could you have at least spared Nuts a bit'a mercy?"

"Yeah, Miyu-san! Chocola thinks that what you did to Coconut-oneechan was too much!" the small, brown-haired catgirl complained with a small frown.

Her tanned elder sister still sat there in a daze, her eyes still indicating a soulless body as her head just lay on the table with the chin supporting it up. She let out a weak, shaky groan.

"You're right, Chocola." Vanilla said as she petted her twin sister on her head, "How typical of Miyureno-san to take advantage of us catgirls."

"Tsk, meanie," Maple simply added as she rested her cheek on her hands. She shot him a teasing smirk.

Cinnamon added onto the remarks, "Nyaa~! Miyureno-san was going too hard on poor Coco-chan."

She proceeded to pet and console the sulking Maine Coon

"There, there. Thanks to you, we have more than enough to eat for tonight. So there is something to be happy about, right? I guess…?"

As he received snarls from each of the other catgirls, the man eventually got overwhelmed by the guilt welling up within him. Though he had good intentions, the sight of Coconut looking so hollow and dejected gnawed at his heart. Knowing her, she would actually be overjoyed with what he had just done. Regardless, he sought to explain himself to her.

"Coconut!" he called out to her in a plea.

The catgirl in question was to his right and remained still and lifeless on the table. Her hands were dangling off the table edge. Noticing that she was unresponsive, he felt another pang at his heart. He reached out to her white hair and began patting her softly on the head. It made him all the more shocked to realise that she didn't react to it.

He doesn't touch these catgirls very often so he thought that she would at least reel back a bit. Also, he expected a catgirl, being a catgirl, to be happy with pets. But nope; there he was now, petting a figuratively dead Coconut.

"Hey, hey. I'm sorry, okay!" he confessed, "it's just… I saw how you were looking at the menu with so much trouble and figured that I couldn't allow you to order far less than you would like to. I just wanted to make sure this dinner will be good for you – for all of you. Since it's our first dinner together, I wanted to pamper you all more, that's all! I knew you girls would be very against this so-so I- "

"So you used me…" she muttered softly as though it came out from the very last breath she has left. Her eyes were still hollowed out.

Miyureno widened his eyes as regret took hold of him. Instead of just patting her head, he began to scratch it now, hoping it could make her feel better.

"I know! I'm sorry but I didn't really know how else would I- "

"NYAAA¬!" Coconut flared up and looked at him with narrow eyes and arms up in the air as she threateningly hunched over him.

"You dummy! What do you mean you 'don't really know how else'? You can just say so, you know! We would be against it for sure but you can't really stop us, right? You can just let out your order and the waitress would just write it no matter what!"

"AH! I know! I know! But Vanilla told me how highly catgirls held their sense of dignity! So-so I figured-!"

He was then interrupted by an annoyed Vanilla to his left. She hissed at him, "Don't drag me into the hole you've dug yourself into…"

"AH! I know! I know! It's just…"

The other catgirls looked on to the comical scene taking place in-front of them. Right there, Miyureno was shifting his focus among the two angry catgirls he was caught in-between. One of the two would be unleashing a slew of nagging and he would retort in a nervous stammer, repeatedly apologising while the other would hiss threateningly at him.

They watched with an evil smirk, except for Cinnamon.

"Ehh~ Actually, he is technically giving us all a bigger treat by buying us more food, why are we not cutting him some slack?" she asked with a finger on her chin.

The to-and-fro battle seemed to have devolved. Now, it was just a sad, soppy man who has given up and was on a verge of tears as, on both his sides, two catgirls glared with glowing red eyes filled with fury. They closed in menacingly on him.

Maple shrugged at her sister's question, "You're right. We should be more grateful."

"But c'mon Monchinna. Let's just enjoy this moment, yeah? Anyways, it looks like Nuts is growing out of being a kitten – and it's all thanks to Miyureno!" Azuki said.

As usual, Azuki was happy to see someone else's demise.

"Please guys! I didn't mean any harm! I'm a good guy, I swear! It wasn't intentional at all! I'm all good!" he began half-pleading-half-praying.

They were both holding their palms out with sharp nails at the ready. They weren't just hissing anymore; they were growling at this point.

Even the normally gentle, innocent Chocola agreed with Azuki, "Chocola thinks it's just kinda cute how they're cornering him like that! It looks like Miyu-san isn't always a tough guy, nyahaha~!"

 _Ah crappp. Come on, Michael. You got to think your way out of this._

As his mind went to rapidly think through whatever else he can say to calm the two of them down, he twiddled hard with his thumbs. They were both practically leaning on him now. To his right was the large profile of Coconut, who therefore seemed more intimidating, and to his left was the smaller Vanilla who had a more bloodlust growl. Thinking through all the possible confessions he could say, he realised, with despair, that he had nothing.

He began to mentally knock himself in the head to get himself to think. Eventually, an idea came to mind about something that Kashou told him a while back when he was sharing his experiences he had being a catgirl owner to Chocola and Vanilla and raising the other 4 of them.

Miyureno gulped and decided to try it.

He braced himself as he proceeded to put his thoughts into action.

 _Kashou had better be right! And Maple too!_

* * *

 **A/N**

 **TaRouTaRhoe, 15 May 2018**

 **And so ends another chapter to the story!**

 **I am doing a thorough review of all my current chapters to make it more reader-friendly where I try to provide less descriptions and big words and replace them with dialogues and simpler words that aren't so taxing on the brain to read. Rest assured though! The rest of the story is still being fleshed out and chapters have already been planned for the first major arch that is upcoming!**

 **So, stay tuned!**

 **Feel free to leave some feedback, its much appreciated!**

 **See you in the next one!**


	6. Chapter 6: Dinner Pt 2

He reached out his hands to both of them, swiftly aiming for the bottom of their heads. His sudden movement was taken as a sign of aggression so they began to pounce on him…

…only to submit helplessly to him, letting out delightful purrs against their will.

Miyureno was scratching both of their chins, which seemed to do just the trick. The two of them were immediately pacified. He was pretty sure it works for Vanilla, given how young she is. As for Coconut, he was hinging on the fact that Maple still called her a kitten a while ago.

Knowing young catgirls – or catgirls in general – they loved their chin scratching. Compared to head-petting, this was something that catgirls find harder to resist.

Both of them were in a trance with their heads tilted up as they submitted to his caress. Vanilla's purring was as soft as her normally hushed voice. Coconut's purring was cuter and of a higher, happy pitch which displayed genuine childish joy.

"Boy, Nuts," Azuki remarked, shaking her head in disappointment, "you're still a kitten after all…"

Maple looked at her elder sister judgingly, "As if you can resist chin-scratching yourself, Azuki."

The blonde catgirl pounced on her sister and grabbed her by the shoulder. Meanwhile, Cinnamon went ahead to scratch her small chin. Evidently, Azuki tried to break out of their hold but she can only do so much with her small body.

"EH! Pull-May! Mon-Cinna! Whaddaya…. Think…. You're… mm….ehmm….hnnng…."

Azuki began to make some weird noises. It was a mix of shaky rumbled purrs that were being held back (as much as possible) along with some high-pitched whines that were let out involuntarily as she tried very hard to clamp down on her natural urge to make such sounds.

Catgirls considered this behaviour as being childish. It was a matter of pride to resist their own catgirl instincts and stop themselves from being easily domesticated by particular touches and lures such as catnip. Alas, no catgirl can run away from this side of theirs forever. If it comes to pets and chin-scratching, every catgirl will lose to it… eventually.

After all, the eldest of the Minaduki catgirls was only 2 years past her kitten stage. There is still more to go in terms of behaving well when temptations are around.

Chocola and Cinnamon laughed happily at her reaction. Maple had a smirk running across her face.

"Not so tough now, are you Azuki?" she said.

"Nya! Maple-oneechan! Chocola wants to be pet too!"

Maple looked towards her kitten sibling and could not help but fulfil her requests. With one arm still locking Azuki in place, Maple caressed her sister with the other. The little catgirl purred loudly and without hesitance.

After defusing the situation, Miyureno let out a breath that he was holding in. Both his hands continued scratching the chins of the two beside him.

Putting aside the moment where he practically stared death in the eye (in the form of the fiery glare and snarling sharp fangs of two otherwise harmless-looking catgirls), everything went according to plan.

Minutes later, their table was filled with plenty of dishes. The long booth that managed to cater enough space for all of them to sit now felt squeezed as each platter fought to fit onto the space given.

They looked longingly at it all, pupils dilated and eyes shimmering as some, especially the food-loving Coconut, began to salivate.

Despite looking as though they were going to bury their face into the food anytime soon, they managed to resist and waited patiently for all of it to be served and for everyone's ordered dish to come so that they may all begin together. Cinnamon grabbed a few sets of cutlery composing of wooden chopsticks and porcelain spoons and handed them out to everyone.

"Alright!" Miyureno clicked his chopsticks together excitedly, "dig in everyone!"

All 6 of them smiled gratefully, happily expressing their thanks for the food provided in-front of them. Then, they took pieces from each dish they wanted to savour and began eating. From time to time, one of them would moan joyfully at how delicious the dish is.

Seeing them all-smiles made Miyureno feel contented. It was turning out to be the wonderful dinner night that he was expecting it to be.

For the next half-an-hour, they gorged down on their meals for the night. At this point of time, only a quarter of each dish was left uneaten. As everyone was so dead-set on filling their famished stomachs, their table was devoid of conversations save for those few who would verbalise their happiness at being able to consume such nice food.

That was, until Maple broke the silence.

Miyureno was happily biting a sizable chunk of the fried chicken cutlet he was holding between his pair of chopsticks when the blonde catgirl asked him a quick question.

"Say, Miyureno-san," she began after she took a sip from the fancy mocktail that she ordered.

"Don't you have anything else to do tonight? I don't imagine that you could free up your schedule to bring us here on such a short notice. You weren't planning to have dinner with family or anything?"

"Maple-channn," Cinnamon chimed beside her, "if you want to ask Miyu-san if he has a girlfriend, just say so directly~!"

The once delectable chicken cutlet that Miyureno happily chewed on and swallowed now began to choke him. He coughed roughly.

She was taken aback from Cinnamon's blunt statement; a long shadow cast itself on her widened eyes. She glared angrily at her best friend and retorted.

"C-Cinnamon! That's nowhere close to what I'm asking for! That's all your thinking!"

Azuki took this opportunity to nudge herself right into the middle of the situation and cause trouble (as usual), "Eh Mapleee, don't be like that. Cinnamon was just doing you a favour~"

Maple closed her eyes and frowned, mumbling to herself as her face turned red.

Meanwhile, Miyureno was in a state of silent panic as the chicken cutlet threatened to make him breathless. Not wanting to make the catgirls distressed though, he kept it all to himself and simply glared at the table with tightly closed fists. He concerted all his energy to compose himself and overcome the traitorous cutlet.

This tremendously serious look that Miyureno was giving shocked all the catgirls. While confused at first, Azuki and Cinnamon soon concluded why he looked so crossed. They looked with fearful eyes.

If one could see it happen from afar, it'd looked as though their spirit was leaking out of their gaping mouths. Their forehead began to show signs of nervous perspiration as they shuddered in fright.

"Mi-Miyureno… i-it was just a j-joke, yeah? Ha…haha…" Azuki whimpered.

"Miyureno-san~ I'm sorry! I-I misunderstood," Cinnamon confessed melodically.

She was quick to point at Maple beside her, "But-but! Maple-chan's vague statements didn't help make things clear anyways!"

"W-what?! C-cinnamon!"

After giving a while to brace herself, Maple eventually blurted out in blatant annoyance, "I THINK MY INTENTIONS WERE QUITE CLEAR NYA!"

None of these words went into Miyureno's head, however. He solely focused his attention to himself and his internal battle against the deadly _**chicken cutlet**_.

From clenched fists, he spread his fingers on the table and dug his nails in it. His eyes began to widen before-

' _Screw this! COME ON!'_ he let out a war-cry in his head.

-before he swallowed with much exaggeration...

It was loud enough to be heard by all those around him.

The rough, crispy skin of the cutlet could be felt scraping down his throat before it proceeded to sink normally into his stomach.

 _Nooooo~!_

One could hear it cry in defeat…

Now that his airway is clear, he sucked in a large portion of air and let it all out in one strong sigh. He celebrated his victory by melting down into his seat in a daze, having stared death in the face the second time that night.

A huge question mark could be seen plastered on everyone's eyes as they stared blankly at the man whose expressions made a dramatic change.

Azuki and Cinnamon both felt embarrassment well up inside them as they realised that they misunderstood him and overreacted as a result. Where they thought he was furious at the teases they threw, he was actually just trying to resist choking on his food.

Now that it became clear to everyone what was happening to him the whole time, the catgirls beside him showed some concern.

"Miyureno-san, are you okay?" Vanilla asked.

To snap himself out of it, Miyureno shook his head from side-to-side before sitting up straight.

He gave Vanilla an assuring smile, "Yeah. I just… choked on my food, that's all."

An angry Coconut shot a glare at her two sisters; Azuki and Cinnamon.

"You two need to be more careful in over-doing your jokes! You almost killed Miyureno-san!"

"Yes! No games when anyone is eating! It's dangerous!" Vanilla added.

Azuki looked at them with surprise, "Eh?! You two- You two are taking his side?!"

"You can't say that when you looked like you wanted to beat him so badly just now, Coco-chan~" Cinnamon stated.

"Huh, what gives?" Maple asked, "What's with the sudden change of heart, you two?"

Vanilla and Coconut had nothing to reply her with as they looked guiltily. Regardless, Azuki, Maple and Cinnamon knew what their answer would be – nothing can be left unsolved after some well-placed chin-scratching.

 _Great, so much for not riling up the catgirls again… What's with me and getting into trouble with them so often today?_

"No! No! It's alright everyone! I just didn't expect such a straightforward question!" Miyureno spoke out.

"By Cinnamon!" Maple corrected to make sure.

He nodded, "Yes. By Cinnamon!"

Maple straightened her back and looked pleased with herself. Ignoring this, Miyureno decided to carry on with their conversation. He reached out for a stick of yakitori and held it in-front of him.

"To answer your question," he popped a portion of the chicken into his mouth and chewed.

Cinnamon and Azuki seemed to sparkle with excitement. ' _He is really going to tell us?!'_ the two of them wondered in their heads.

"Nope! I've got nothing else going on for tonight. In fact, I don't have any plans with anyone for all of my nights here unless it's for work.

"My family isn't living in Japan so there is not much that is holding me down."

Cinnamon and Azuki slouched, looking betrayed.

"Eh?" Chocola began, "So Miyu-san has been living alone this whole time?"

"That's right!"

This surprised Maple and the others. She knew about Miyureno being a foreigner who decided to spend the rest of his life in Japan but she wasn't aware that he made the move all on his own.

She couldn't help but imagine how frightening and lonely must it have felt for him.

Coconut was the next one to ask him the questions. Just like in the café a while ago, the sides of her mouth and her cheeks were riddled with bits of food.

"I would have never guessed that you lived on your own Miyureno-san. I always thought you had your family here."

"Hmm? What makes you so sure?"

"I don't know… I just thought that it would be quite hard for you to get used to a whole new country on your own, no?"

"That's right but, while my family did not come along to help me, I was not entirely alone at the start. I came here with someone. Both of us had an intention to live in Japan so we started out together."

They all looked at him with great interest.

"Though, once we got used to things here, we went our separate ways.

"At least at that point of time, there was Kashou."

Their eyes all brightened up as they now realised how Kashou and Miyureno got to meet each other.

"So, Kashou-san taught you the ways of living in Japan?" Maple asked.

"Yup! And more than that. In fact, Kashou was my induction buddy. Our teacher back in high school chose him to teach me everything there was to surviving high school in Japan. From there, he also took time to teach me the culture and ways of living here."

"How helpful of Kashou-san~," Cinnamon said happily.

Chocola beamed with pride, "Nyaa! That _does_ sound like master!"

Vanilla nodded, looking equally proud.

Miyureno continued to chew at the stick of chicken that he was holding while some of the other catgirls gobbled up the food that remained. Maple, however, seemed to be lost in thought. She was sitting there, absent-mindedly swirling her mocktail glass.

Miyureno, leaning over to her side to the table to grab a ball of takoyaki, noticed her silence.

"What's up, Maple?"

The catgirl snapped out of it and her emerald eyes fell on him.

"It's nothing. I was just wondering… Who is the 'other person' you were talking about?"

Chocola and Vanilla continued to happily gorged down on their own food, oblivious to the question – oh, and Coconut too; Coconut was in her own world, elated by the flavours overwhelming her taste buds.

Azuki and Cinnamon diverted their attention away from eating for a moment, their curiosity piqued by Maple's question.

"Other person…? Oh, _that person._ Nothing much, just a friend," Miyureno glanced sideways before sitting down and eating his takoyaki ball.

Azuki and Cinnamon raised a brow suspiciously. Maple tilted her head slightly and looked at him. Deciding not to push it further, she brought her glass to her lips and drank her mocktail.

After another few minutes, all the dishes were wiped clean of food. Everyone sat back, feeling extremely satisfied. Azuki broke the silence cast on everyone.

"Huh," she wondered out loud.

Miyureno and all the catgirls looked at her.

"There is also your car, Miyureno?"

"Huh? My car?"

"Yeah. Your car probably made Coconut convinced that you have your family here."

Cinnamon seemed to perk up after what her sister has just said, "Oh yes! If you live alone then why bother buying a large family car?"

"I don't know. Having so much space just gives you more flexibility I guess?"

He shrugged dismissively, "you know, if my friends need to carpool, I'd be more than able to accommodate them. Not to mention, I use it for work quite often when me and my guys head out for lunch. Other than that, that's pretty much it. I just like the space."

Miyureno caught the eye of a passing waiter. He asked for the bill which he went to take from the register and brought it back to the table. Miyureno offered his credit card and signed against the receipt.

"…I don't really get it…" Vanilla stated expressionlessly.

Maple took a final sip from her cocktail, "to each their own I guess. If Miyureno likes it that way, who are we to judge him? Anyways, thanks to his choice, he could fit all of us in one car and bring us here."

From the corner of her eye, Maple could sense Azuki's stinging smirk. She sighed internally.

Coconut looked admirably at her sister's coolness, "Maple-oneechan! I couldn't have put it better myself!"

The catgirl then turned to look at him, her amber and teal eyes looking honest and pure. She bowed her head down slightly, "Thank you, Miyureno-san!"

"Wh-wha?!" he exclaimed at her sudden actions.

Maple giggled and followed suit, "Yes! Thank you, Miyureno-san!"

She, too, bowed her head down slightly.

The rest of them joined soon after.

"Thank you, Miyureno-san~!" Cinnamon chimed in a happy tune.

"Thank you, Miyu-san! Thank you for the wonderful dinner! You made Chocola and everybody very very happy nyaaa~!"

"Yes. Thank you, Miyureno-san!" Vanilla said, sounding genuinely grateful. None of her usual sarcasm was evident in her tone. A small smile crept on her lips.

Finally, it was Azuki's turn to express her appreciation. She did so shyly, not used to being so expressive and emotional, "Yeah…! Thanks…! Miyu…reno…"

The person facing the brunt of these appraisals merely sat there speechless.

He looked at all 6 of them with their heads tilted down and their backs straight. Their hands were placed nicely on top of their laps.

Not knowing how to react to this display, he merely laughed awkwardly.

"No problem you guys! It's nothing big really, I enjoyed the night and this dinner too! It's been one of the better nights I've had in a while! So, thank you all too!"

He then returned the gesture and bowed down to all of them. He lifted himself up and was greeted by the bright faces of all the catgirls, a smile proudly plastered on all their faces.

Eventually, they left the restaurant with 6 grateful catgirls, 1 content man and a night that brought them all closer together.

He dropped them off at their respective homes. Chocola and Vanilla were brought to back to La Soleil where Kashou and Shigure were waiting. With Shigure now on board, he sent everyone else to the Minaduki household.

Now by his lonesome, he drove up the snaking streets leading up to his home in The Bluff. As he guided his car on its lazy swerve from side to side, he reflected on what has happened that day.

He never thought he would get to this point with the Minaduki catgirls. Going to Patisserie La Soleil in the first place was just to show some support to his good friend Kashou. Perhaps also to check on Shigure and some of the catgirls he knew for a long while. Other than that, he didn't expect to get so close to the rest of them.

Not that he was entirely against it; the benefits of their interaction together has been, so far, very fruitful. For the longest time, he had felt rather consumed by his drive to perform in his job that he had forgotten what it was like to have fun and hang-out with others who could make him happy. Tonight, their company has made him felt relaxed and thoroughly filled with joy.

And it seems like there would be more to come. With them probing out more about his life and looking for his counsel and support like Maple did, Miyureno concluded that this was just the beginning of a long-lasting experience with the crew at La Soleil.

He stopped his car slightly ahead of his driveway and reversed in. In a few moments, he found himself smacked on his own comfy bed, looking back joyfully at the events of the day. Subconsciously, a smile formed on his face as he began to drift to sleep.

* * *

"Say, Azuki…"

"Oh. Mon-Cinna. You still up?"

The catgirl, who was in her cyan blue pyjamas, was standing at the doorway leading into their bedroom. Her lavender hair was in a mess and drowsiness was evident in her lazy eyes.

"Yup. But I'm about to turn in for today."

"Okay, just be sure to leave me some space."

Azuki was leaning on a window frame at the living room, a few steps away from Cinnamon. The Munchkin catgirl was gazing out the window and up at the night sky, seemingly in a deep trance.

She perked her ears as Cinnamon approached her.

Said catgirl was now rather close to her. She was sitting on the couch nearby.

"Say, Azuki…"

"Yeah?"

"You know… that question that I asked Miyureno?"

"The one that made him choke?"

"A-ah… yes… that" Cinnamon said with a half-guilty chuckle.

"What about it?"

"He didn't really give an answer but… what do you think?"

Not getting an answer from her brown-haired sister, Cinnamon explained her thoughts, "I mean, he mentioned he came to Japan with someone and-and, when Maple asked him about it, his answer wasn't that convincing."

She looked down at her feet. Her toes were nervously wrangling against each other. She actively thought through her words carefully before letting each one out.

"He even looked quite uncomfortable about it…

"… do you think that… that maybe he-"

"-go to bed Mon-Cinna." Azuki said flatly.

Cinnamon looked up at her, slightly surprised.

Azuki turned and their eyes met. The short catgirl had her usual energetic, sharp look to her face.

"I think you're reading too much into it, silly. Go get some rest."

Her sister gave her a puzzled look. After a while, she stood up and began walking back to their bedroom.

"O-okay. If you say so."

Before entering the room, she looked back at Azuki once more.

"Goodnight."

"Yeah, yeah. G'night."

Now left alone, Azuki looked out once more.

After much thought, she let out a big sigh before stepping away from the window and retiring to bed.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **TaRouTaRhoe, 26 May 2018**

 **And there ends another chapter to the story!**

 **We start to see the grand scheme of this story starting to take shape in this chapter. I have been fleshing out more of the fanfic and right now, I can say that it is sure to approach the major arch of the romance very very soon!**

 **As I reviewed the drafts of the arch over and over again, I can't but feel excited about what you guys may think about it!**

 **I shall stop adding anymore suspense hahaha. Until next time!**


	7. Chapter 7: Yamashita Park

**Good day all.**

 **IMPORTANT**

 **This announcement applies to those who have been reading previous parts of this story (Chapt 1-6) before 7th June 2018.**

 **A major update has been done to the story.**

 **Chapters 1 and 4 now have NEW CONTENT at the beginning that are VITAL to the story-line that follows.**

 **Please read through them otherwise you won't understand what comes next.**

 **Thank you! And sorry for the disruption!**

 **Your faithful author,**

 **TaRouTaRhoe.**

* * *

In a dark, unkempt room, a boy lay alone on a bed.

The sheets were crumpled and creased heavily and the pillows were in disarray, scattered all over.

Miyureno lay in the midst of it all, his legs and hands tucked close to his chest.

He squirmed and twitched as he dreamt.

The trails left behind by his tears dried up and lingered as clean lines drawn on his dirty face.

From time to time, in between his heavy, restful breathing, he would sniff and shudder – an aftereffect to prolonged weeping.

Sadness tugged at the boy for the most of his days.

Even in his dreams, he was troubled and deeply upset.

Wherever he turned, he could seek no solace, no comfort, and no joy.

It may be due in part of his behaviour; he shunned everyone who tried to approach him. Those who seek to console him and promise to help cast his worries aside were ignored and driven away.

Even his closest friend in high school could not do anything to help him.

To Miyureno, nothing can relieve him of the despair, of the aching emptiness in him.

The boy's ear twitched.

A rowdy commotion was on-going outside his apartment and was causing him to stir.

He attempted to ignore it.

–Only for the noise to get to him again.

Annoyed, he shifted and covered his face with a pillow, trying to shut away the sounds in order to resume his slumber.

Whatever it was, it could just be the bustling of the street below. Maybe some dumb performer showed up and was wowing everyone for the sake of earning some coin.

He clicked his tongue in frustration thinking of that.

"HELP!"

A shout beckoned.

"HELP!"

The boy's eyes shot wide open.

What's this?

It was unusual. Miyureno's curiosity got piqued all of a sudden. An uncommon occurrence was taking place right outside his building and he couldn't help but find out what's going on.

In fact, any sensible resident would be drawn in to what's happening after hearing such a plea.

He stood up and walked away from his bed, mindlessly stepping over his strewn apparel on the floor and kicking away some unknown objects and crumpled balls of paper that were lying around.

He aimed for the window by his desk.

It took barely five steps to reach it; his single-room apartment wasn't that spacious after all.

Rubbing his eyes lazily, he craned his neck and looked out. As he tilted his head down, his eyes fell on a large crowd that gathered at the foot of his building.

It was an abnormally large one. This wasn't for any normal street performance or flash sale at the stalls downstairs – something was definitely going on.

"HELP!" he heard the person call again.

It sounded like it came below him. He scanned around and found the person in distress.

Only a floor underneath his own and one room to the left, he saw a pair of flailing arms.

 _Wait…_ he pondered.

 _One floor below… one room to my left._

 _That's…_

 _Mrs Chen?_

To this revelation, his initially weary body jolted awake.

What was going on?

The strong wind changed direction and with it, the rain droplets began flying straight to his face and into his room, effectively pelting him.

But that was not the main concern of the boy at the moment.

What clung onto his attention was the very fact that he had caught a whiff of smoke.

…smoke?

His eyes widened further and he began to look more carefully around Mrs Chen's direction.

In the darkness of the night, he could barely see the plumes being emitted from her window.

The boy reluctantly came to a startling conclusion:

 _A fire?_

As soon as he thought of that, he heard the sounds of blaring sirens in the distance to his right. He swivelled his head and saw, at the end of the street, the faces of the buildings glowing red, then blue and red again.

It was the fire brigade.

He was right: a fire is breaking out in the building.

He took a few steps away from the window. Fear took a firm hold of him; he knew not what to do. His eyes darted about his room as his mind was in a blur, thinking of an approach to take in this situation.

He rushed to his desk, grabbing whatever valuables he can find: his hand phone, wallet, identification card, and whatever else he deemed of importance.

Putting on a shirt that happened to be lying about, he hurried to his door, swinging it open without a care in the world.

Before he could walk any further down the hallway in his escape, his mind gleamed over something crucial that he had left behind.

He went back to his room and searched his desk to find a small slip.

Straining to see in the dark, he frowned and confirmed that he was holding onto a photograph. Tucking it into his pocket and now assured that there was nothing else crucial in the room, he resumed his way to the stairs.

He rushed down the flights, skipping whole sets of steps in his frantic rush.

As he went down a floor, he wandered about Mrs Chen and her inital call for help.

Miyureno stopped at the staircase landing leading to her unit's hallway. For a few, brief heartbeats, he stood there, his mind divided as to what he should do.

His eyes lingered at the rusty silver door knob that led to the hallway.

He retracted his gaze away, shutting his eyes tightly. No, he thought, before he continued to make his way down the building.

At the ground floor, he ran away from the stairs and towards the front doors, pushing it violently open. Immediately, the coldness of the outside rushed to greet him, and so did the peering eyes of the large crowd that were held at bay by lines of police that stood in their way.

Shocked, Miyureno stood rooted to the ground.

A policewoman turned and noticed the boy. She took a few steps to him.

Her lips were moving but Miyureno did not seem to register anything that she was saying – all he could hear was ringing.

He felt uneasy and strange; as though he was going to collapse any moment. But he did not take in any smoke nor did he tire himself enough to warrant him feeling nauseous now.

What was this feeling that was tugging at him?

His attention shifted when he heard a sound that he swore would haunt him for the rest of his life. It came from just beyond the police line.

The crowd cleared way to a single man.

–An elderly man, who was surrounded by a group of fire-fighters.

Though he could not hear the policewoman, he somehow can clearly pick up the inhumane cries of despair coming from the man; he was screaming and crying his heart out.

Those around him had stunned expressions on their faces: some covered an agape mouth with a hand while others simply stared with petrified eyes.

The man's display was unlike anything anyone would've have seen in their lives.

His pleas elicited great desperation and tugging sadness that dragged him close to the brink of insanity.

"Please!" he choked.

His voice cracked at the intensity of his delivery.

"My wife! My precious wife and daughter! They're both still in there!"

Miyureno's heart hollowed out at this statement. His blood flushed and left his brain. His light-headedness went further downhill upon realising who this particular person was.

The fire-fighter he was talking to, seemingly the leader of the group, wore yellow gear compared to his men who were all cladded in black.

He held a firm, open palm to the elderly man.

"I understand," the officer spoke with a deep voice.

"Mr Chen, I assure you that we will try our best. We will spare no effort to see that your wife and daughter are safe."

With that, a policeman ushered Mr Chen away. Naturally, he resisted and thrashed about as he wailed deafeningly.

Staring at this taking place in-front of him, Miyureno's heart sank – not only in grief, but in guilt.

He clenched his fist and frowned. His eyes were clamped shut.

"No," he said to himself.

"It's okay, it'll be okay," the policewoman said soothingly, her hands reaching out for him.

He looked up at her with eyes full of fright and regret.

"No…"

With that, he turned around and ran back into the building, narrowly missing the woman's grasp.

"H-Hey!" she yelled.

"Come back! It's not safe in there!"

He ignored her despite her warning and continued up the stairs.

"No," he said in a whimper.

His thoughts flashed on the memories of her face.

Her small, genuine smile.

Her kind, friendly eyes.

"No… no… no… nonoNONONO!"

Miyureno yelled at the top of his lungs as he picked up his speed in pacing up the flights of stairs, desperately wanting to reach her floor soon.

He couldn't.

He won't.

As much as he has turned her away for the past few months, Miyureno couldn't help but feel driven to see the woman safe and sound. After all she has done for him in this moment of his grieving and beyond, he can't allow this.

He is already feeling loss; he cannot bear to steel himself at losing another person close to him.

With a heavy heart, he sped up.

Tears, once again, ran down his face, replacing the clear paths of the remnants of those that he had shed earlier that day – this time, these were for a completely different reason and coupled with a completely different feeling.

"No…" Miyureno said, as though a wishful promise...

* * *

" _Remaining distance. One kilometre. Estimated time: One hour, one minute and thirty-eight seconds."_ A monotonous robotic voice spoke out to him.

Noting the information given to him by his smartphone's fitness application, Miyureno quickened his pace slightly. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the cool moist night-time air of the pier. His footsteps were rhythmic and consistent. Beads of sweat trickled from his elbows as his drenched shirt uncomfortably slapped itself on his torso each time he took a step forward.

He was out on his usual 10km night runs around the neighbourhood and was about to reach Yamashita park where his end-point always was. With most of the route by the sea, he was deeply immersed in a silent, calming atmosphere.

It has been 11 days since the wonderful dinner he had shared with all the Minaduki catgirls. Since then, nothing really eventful happened. Everyone just went about their own duties and, whenever they had free time, they would drop by his booth for a quick chat.

Unfortunately, he was being bombarded by new projects by his boss recently such that, for most of the chit-chat sessions, his eyes would be glued to his laptop. Even though he didn't mean it intentionally, he still felt regretful not cherishing the time he had with whoever decided to keep him company.

Kashou, Shigure and all the catgirls were rather understanding and didn't mind though.

For the past 11 days, something had been troubling him.

As much as he tried to avoid it, he couldn't help but think about Maple from time to time. At first, he was just wondering curiously about how she was coping and feeling with regards to the Coconut-Azuki episode. Each time he asked her though, she would just state plainly that she was still thinking about it.

He decided to stop bugging about it eventually but he just couldn't help but worry for her. Normally, he would just leave others be with how they choose to deal with their own issues but Maple has drawn in his attention more than normal.

Why? That was something he kept asking himself. He figured that it was probably because of how unusual she acted in-front of him. Others claimed that she isn't normally as forthcoming as compared to when Miyureno was around.

To what extent this was true, Miyureno couldn't tell.

But if it were to be true then that meant that he was the only one who Maple can confide in. There is Cinnamon, yes, but that catgirl seems to be struggling with the cat-fight issue too. The next best option, in Maple's eyes, must be Miyureno, himself.

 _Damn it, Michael! You're slowing down again!_

He attempted to break his thoughts to focus on his run. It worked… for a bit…

He frowned as he continued thinking to himself.

She has not really displayed the emotional side of her again after that incident and it was making him wonder why.

He'd give her all the space and time she needs to think through her role as an elder sister but he can't help but feel uneasy about her silence and reluctance to talk. He worries that maybe he had said something that made her lose trust in him.

Either that, or he is reading too far into this.

Within minutes, the end was in sight. He set his eyes on a jetty at the far end of the park promenade. He broke into a full sprint as he looked forward to the end of another long run. Taking a few long steps in the process of slowing himself down, he eventually came to a halt at the entrance to the jetty.

He hunched forward as he panted heavily. Spotting a park bench ahead of him, he went to it and took a seat, letting himself cool down.

After catching his breath, he stood up and went to the toilet that was a few metres towards the jetty. As he approached it, his mind subconsciously went back to Maple again.

Out of the eleven days, he had off-duties on seven of them.

In the seven days, however, Maple was unfortunately quite caught up with a lot of things.

According to Shigure, Maple and Cinnamon was due for a bell re-test. Knowing how tough the test can be, she excused the two from work to study and prepare. So, for four of those days, she didn't appear at La Soleil at all.

The other three days he was free, Maple was caught up with a lot of travelling around to make deliveries. Since Miyureno comes down during the not-so-busy afternoon period, it was the perfect time for the café's deliveries to be made.

With their pastries heavily discounted for five days, its loyal customers jumped at the opportunity and put in a lot of orders. Kashou thus had to re-shuffle the catgirls at the time and handed the deliveries each afternoon to a bigger team comprising of Shigure, Coconut, Maple and Cinnamon.

All-in-all, he barely had a chance to speak to Maple. Perhaps when she happened by he would engage with a short catch-up with her but, other than that, there was not much else. This didn't help with the internal conflict in his mind that was spiralling around her as a constant subject.

He sighed to himself as he washed his hands under the cold running water. He collected a sizable amount in his cupped hands and splashed it on his face.

 _There you go thinking about her again…_

He looked at himself in the mirror. Sweat and water slicked his black hair, making it clump together in thick, drenched bundles. His tanned cheeks were flushed slightly red as a result of the exercise.

It's true though; perhaps talking to her more would help his mind finally settle down.

Out of the toilet, he gazed down the jetty. The long, straight path stretched for a good hundred metres out to sea. At the end was a T-junction where both sides ended an additional twenty-five metres to the left and right. All through its length were lamps at either sides that illuminated the walkway a cool blue colour. Those in the distance shimmered against the dancing waves in the background.

He began walking down the jetty. The further out he got, the stronger the breeze became. With his shirt still damp with his sweat, the wind made him shiver in the cold. The very end was soon ahead of him. He walked to it and leaned on the railing, looking out to the sea and the bank beyond.

The gentle lapping of the waves against the stilts that supported the jetty and the humming of the wind filled his ears. His eyes drowned at the mesmerising display of brilliant blue and orange lights dotting across the entire bank opposite him.

Miyureno sighed as he took in all these sensations. He found peace in this spot every time after his runs. It was a wonderful place to wind down amid his hectic schedule.

As he was basking in the silence and serenity, his floating thoughts were interrupted by a soft melody. His ears perked and eyes widened as he attempted to confirm its presence.

…There it was again!

Whatever it was, it was so soft that he could barely hear it if he weren't concentrating. The waves that softly slapped against the jetty almost covered any evidence of it completely. Yet, he caught on to it – it was somewhere to his left. He turned to look at that direction, taking a few steps away from the railing.

At the very edge, he could barely discern a silhouette against the bright and colourful lights of the Cosmo Clock 21 Ferris Wheel and the illuminated city buildings surrounding it.

The person was seated at the only bench smacked right at the centre of the jetty outcropping's width.

It was quite an unusual sight; the jetty would normally be devoid of anyone at this time of the day. Not to mention that the person was all by his/her lonesome, all the way out at the jetty.

Curiosity got the better of him. He decided to pursue further and discover what exactly it was. As he approached the person, the melody sounded louder.

He noticed the long shadow cast behind the person amidst the Ferris Wheel lights. It was picturesque; a beautiful display to see. The strong glow encapsulating the silhouette of this person made him or her look holy almost. Whoever was sitting there was dazzling and didn't know it. It was a photogenic, for sure.

He was now a few steps away from the unknown person. He found a lamp-post to his right to lean on as he listened to the now clearly audible sound.

It was music; a song.

It was playing some high-beat techno tune and sounded like it was at the bridge segment to this particular song.

Basking in the midst of such a captivating view, surrounded by a calming atmosphere and listening to happy, upbeat music, this person knows how to relax, Miyureno concluded with a smile.

As he closed his eyes, Miyureno tuned his hearing onto the song and tried to enjoy it as much as possible.

Then, what happened next caught him off guard.

His eyes shot wide open in response to it.

"...itsumo~…"

He cocked a brow at the sudden word and frowned, trying to decide if he was imagining things or not.

The upbeat techno climaxed at this point before slowing down to impactful, strong beats.

"…donna toki mo kimi wo… omo-…-tteru yo~…"

The way the words were matching up to the rhythm of the music… the person was singing, Miyureno discovered.

Then, there were four transitional beats before the music became increasingly melodic and soothing, slowing the pace down while maintaining its happy tune.

"…Zutto taisetsu da yo itsu datte tonari ni iru yo"

The person, not knowing that he was there the whole time, sang to her heart's content. Her voice was wonderful and soft. It was high-pitched and calming as she fit her tone to the melody. She continued…

"Onaji toki no naka de sotto" – the melody then became increasingly upbeat in the next few words – "yorisotte itai"

At the usual happy, fast-paced rhythm of the song, the person finished the rest of the song.

"Zutto daisuki da yo itsu datte mikata de iru yo

Te to te kokoro tsunagi zutto issho ni iyou ne

Sou ne… futari de hitotsu da~…"

The tune continued with a short instrumental that eventually wrapped up the whole song.

 _Wow._ That was all Miyureno could say at that time. He was still trying to process what had just happened. This came really out of the blue.

The entire display: the bright backdrop on top of her silhouette, the cheerful and heart-warming song, the cooling wind rushing by that made her hair fly gracefully to her side and, to top it all off nicely, her singing. It was pure and filled with joy. He could feel her emotions through it, the cheerfulness complementing the song's tune and atmosphere.

She's good. Her voice and the honesty evidently within it tugged at his heartstrings in the short moment that he heard it.

The person was shaking her legs slightly, her happiness leaking out of her. She hummed the melody of the song as she tapped and scrolled on her phone. He softly smiled as he decided to share and bask a bit in this delightful moment with her. He resisted the urge to applaud, thinking that it would make her feel awkward and ashamed.

However, she did something that shocked Miyureno again.

A tail waved behind her to the left and right. It danced and bounced slowly, emanating her jubilance. To confirm his suspicions, he looked carefully at her head and confirmed two curled up cat-ears.

A singing catgirl… This night was getting more and more interesting.

As he gawked at her in astonishment, she stood up and walked around her bench such that she was now faced him. With one hand on her phone and the other stroking a part of her curly blonde hair that draped on her right shoulder, she concentrated on her screen, unaware of his presence.

With her turned around and approaching him, he managed to catch more details of her attire.

She was wearing an outfit similar to that of a school-girl: a plaid light-brown skirt and a white dress that was wrapped by a vest. Her attire seemed more refined and classy than the regular Japanese uniforms though. Her sleeveless caramel-brown blazer added a depth in colours to her thematic brown and light-orange appearance. She had socks coloured the same as her blazer that reached right below her knees.

Whoever she was, she had a very elegant fashion sense. For a catgirl, that was impressive.

What seemed to transfix her attention on her phone had eventually lost her interest. She shut its screen and looked up, immediately noticing him standing there.

 _Hang on…_ Miyureno said in his thoughts.

A headband, a golden catgirl bell hanging below a red bow, beautiful blonde hair with two twirling bundles of hair on either side of her head and, more especially, sparkling emerald eyes. Only one catgirl in particular would fit such a description.

"…Maple?"

The catgirl stood still and looked at him.

Her face showed that she was as dumbfounded as he was at that moment.

"… Miyureno?"

After allowing herself time to process everything, she finally asked him with a questioning look still present in her eyes.

"You… When did you come here?" She tilted her head, "And… And what are you doing here?"

He took himself off the lamp-post and walked to her, rustling the back of his hair with one hand. He chuckled at her confusion, "I wanted to ask you the same thing."

He glanced awkwardly to his right.

"I found it a bit odd, seeing a single person sitting all the way out here. More especially so now that I discovered it was you. I was just on my usual runs that would always end here at the entrance to this jetty. I went to the very end of the pier to relax and that's when I heard your singing."

Her eyes widened and her hand covered hovered over her mouth. She began stammering in shock, "y-you heard me singing?"

The distressed catgirl gasped and hurled a few more questions to him in panic.

"W-what? H-How? W-Why? How long have you been here? How much did you hear?"

Her state of surprise made him feel a bit overwhelmed. Before she proceeded to descend into full deliriousness, he attempted to re-assure her.

"Whoa, whoa! Slow down, Maple! Yeah, I heard your singing. But only the ending part though! I thought that it was amazing! I didn't knew you had it in you."

Her iris narrowed and the colour in it seemed to fade. Her mouth hung open, gaping in disbelief. From her cheeks, a scarlet red colouring flushed and spread to cover most of her face.

"Y-you heard _that_ much, huh?" her voice was barely audible at this point. It was as though she was talking to herself.

The catgirl began to sway back-and-forth as if she was about to faint and drop on the floor.

"Gya-!" he gasped.

Miyureno yelped in shock as held her at the upper sides of both her arms when she leaned too far forward.

"Maple?! Are you okay? Maple!"

* * *

"Uwaahhh~…" Maple moaned shakily.

The way she made that sound, it was as though the remains of her dignity were slowly being drifting out of her.

Miyureno had brought her to a bench to his right that was facing the sea. He set the immobilised catgirl down to rest on it.

As he made sure to be gentle in lying her on the bench, he made a wry remark in the hopes of making her calm down.

"Ehhh, it's not like you to lose your cool like that, Maple. Come on now, where's the collectiveness I always see in you?"

As he made that joke, he smiled softly at her.

After he let her head down, he leaned forward with his arms clasping his knees as he craned his head to look down at her face. Her expression was still of pure incredulousness; she looked as though she dead inside.

"Heyyy… You okay?"

After a moment of no movement, the catgirl frowned lightly and puffed her cheeks before both her hands came up to cover her face.

"Nyaaaa~"

 _Maple meowing… that's a first…_

And out of nowhere, she began her usual harping.

"You heard me singing… and I did not know you were there the whole time! Nyaaa! Baka! (Idiot!) How can you still ask if I'm okay?!"

She thrashed about as embarrassment welled within her. Maple shook herself from side-to-side as she kicked her legs out frantically.

She continued her whining, "Ahaaaaaaa~…."

"Aww but there's no need to feel embarrassed, Maple! I told you! You sang quite well! I enjoyed it very much!"

She sat up and was now flushed to the side of the bench to his left. She lifted her legs onto the seat and hugged them while burying her face into her knees, effectively hiding it.

"That's not my point…" she said softly, still sounding sad. Her voice sounded muffled with her head enclosed in the way it was at the moment.

"Just… just forget that it ever happened. It's just something that I like to do, okay? I find joy in music and singing so I came out here where I think wouldn't be a nuisance to anyone and still sing in peace."

"Nuisance? After hearing that, I'd think many would beg to differ," Miyureno chuckled to himself.

She clicked her tongue in annoyance before putting her legs down on the ground again. She lurched forward and, with her elbows on her knees, she planted her face into her hands as she hissed very quietly to herself in trepidation.

"I can't believe it... Miyureno saw me sing…The shame… I have no ounce of dignity left~ Kill me~"

A drop of sweat formed behind his head as he took pity at her being in such a sorry state.

Somehow, this behaviour of hers reminded Miyureno of how she would act if her best friend, Cinnamon, would get extremely awkward in public. That quiet cursing to herself is quite characteristic of her.

I was rather amusing, Miyureno thought.

He approached her and patted her head.

"There, there. You looked great and cool when you were singing as you always were."

She turned her head to look at him. She pouted her lips and flicked his hands away.

 _Whoa!... I guess… no pets?_ he wondered.

She stood, driving her feet to the ground before looking at him. Her cute snarling cat-like mouth and glaring slit eyes made her look comical and cartoonish. She flung her arms in the air in a show of annoyance.

"NYAAA! IF YOU WERE STANDING THERE THE WHOLE TIME, WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME INSTEAD OF JUST LOOKING AT ME LIKE A CREEP!"

"Aha…well…"

He failed to come up with a response to that.

But yup. He knew this part of her.

The catgirl continued to nag and snarl at him as he drifted in his own thoughts; This was exactly how Maple would always behave whenever she gets flustered, uneasy or ashamed.

Although it's rare for her to behave that way, Cinnamon somehow has a way of exposing this side of her elder sister rather frequently. Perhaps because of she knew Maple well enough to know exactly what ticks her off.

Anyhow, the conclusion was, when Maple gets this way, she isn't actually as mad as she is portraying herself to be. She just starts nagging a lot and scolding others who made her feel embarrassed.

He had to admit, to be at the receiving end of it, he thought she really was angry.

But after connecting the dots, it turns out that it's just Maple's natural reaction to feeling rather flustered.

So knowing this, Miyureno decided to be a bit playful to try and pacify the distressed catgirl.

"Hey, hey. Don't blame me now," he crossed his arms looking defiant.

"It's all your fault. Who asked you to sound so good when you sing, huh?"

Maple stopped her nagging immediately and opened her mouth to try and retort but she struggled to find the words.

She stammered wildly before she just stared at him with a glare and pouting lips knowing that he managed to strike her speechless. It was, after all, a genuine compliment. Knowing her, she doesn't respond well to heart-felt compliments. It's too emotional for her.

 _Hehe… Bulls-eye_ Miyureno snickered internally.

After a few seconds, she sucked in air deeply and sat down, arms crossed and her back straight. She clamped her eyes shut as she continued to frown sharply with puffy cheeks.

He laughed lightly and sat down to her left, leaning back to the vertical curved frame of the wooden bench.

A calm breeze swept over them. Miyureno's loose sports pants flapped in the wind as Maple's long hair blew in its direction to the rightward side. She traced some few stray strands over her right ear. Letting out the breath she held, the catgirl followed him in leaning back onto the bench.

The two of them stared idly at the city lights that were across the large body of water ahead of them. In a dominant hue of blue and orange, the collection of buildings let out a light glow that shimmered in the reflection of their eyes.

Miyureno had a smile creeping on his face, still thinking about the silly little conflict they had.

His companion, on the other hand, just looked onto the scenery with mesmerised eyes, basking in admiration. Her mouth curled like it always would.

The two of them sat there in silence for a good while, neither of them fidgeting one bit or saying a word to each other.

It was not until the feelings of their commotion faded away did Maple began to speak up.

"You said you normally run here?"

"Yeah, I try to make sure I run every night before my duty begins."

"Hm? Is there a reason?"

Miyureno shook his head.

"Nope! I just wanted to warm my body up before it begins, that's all."

"Oh…"

"What about you? You come by to this park often? It's the first time I'm seeing you around."

"I do. Shigure makes it a point to bring us to the park every-so-often to let us relax and unwind," Maple crossed her leg and started to shake it lightly, seeming quite comfortable at the moment.

"Oh. I didn't know they were here too. Where are they?"

"They are probably walking around. That's what they like to do."

"You don't join them?"

Maple crossed her arms and straightened her back.

"Nahh. I prefer sitting here. It gives me time to myself."

"…time for you to sing?" Miyureno asked genuinely, looking at her.

She closed her eyes and frowned, "Y-yeah, that too. Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Somehow, he felt that she was not actually asking a rhetorical question. Her tone seemed to give away her intentions that she really was seeking some re-assurance from him.

"Nope! I completely understand," he said with a supportive smile.

Miyureno averted his attention and stared mindlessly at the concrete floor right ahead of them. Another gentle breeze blew by, whistling softly. The trees at the park a distance behind them and the jetty they were on rustled in response to it.

"I like to sing to myself too, you know? It can be quite enjoyable. So, I don't see anything wrong with you coming here to do that."

This seemed to catch the catgirl off-guard. She now peered at him with some interest.

"You? Sing? No way…"

"What do you mean? Why, you're allowed to sing but I can't?" he joked.

"Tsk! No! …I just didn't expect that sort of thing from you, that's all."

Miyureno gave her a questioning look.

"You seem like a tough kind of guy. With the job that you do and the all those heroic stories of you saving people's lives, I just found it shocking to see this soft side of you."

He laughed to himself, a bit ashamed.

"I get it. I try to let myself loose around you guys but I guess my stories does show the other side of me, huh?

"But there has to be things I do for my own enjoyment; don't you think? For me, its singing. If I were to play the tough guy all the time, I'd frighten off Chocola, Coconut and Cinnamon while threatening Vanilla and Azuki a long, long time ago."

Maple laughed softly and nodded, "I suppose you're right."

Another spell of stillness fell over them for a moment before he decided to talk about what happened earlier.

He was still shocked about it so he simply refused to let it go.

"I was being honest, you know. You sang wonderfully just now."

The light shaking of her leg stopped.

Maple sighed, "Gosh, you're really pushing it, you know."

"What song was it?"

"It… it was Nekoichi," she answered quietly.

His lack of familiarity to the song was evident in his delay in answering.

"It's by Duca. It's just the instrumental version but if you have the time, you should look it up. It's quite a nice song."

"Sounds like it. It's quite up-beat and happy… Your voice fits it nicely."

"Huh?"

"Your voice," he began to explain, "Your singing is soothing and sounds so innocent. It's enough to complement the song perfectly. Happy melody and pure vocals makes for a very uplifting combination; don't you think?"

"… I guess so?"

She looked down at her skirt and her hands that rested on it.

"I don't know. I never heard myself sing before…"

"You don't _have_ to hear yourself sing, you can have people give you feedback about it. No one ever commented on your singing before?"

The catgirl merely maintained her gaze towards her skirt. This reaction stirred confusion within Miyureno.

"Really, now? No one has ever heard you or gave their thoughts on it? With talent like that, I'm sure it didn't go unnoticed."

She shook her head, still mindlessly intent on her skirt.

"Oh… I guess I am the first then."

"Mm."

He let out another smile her way even if she was not looking at him to see it. He couldn't determine if she was feeling uncomfortable about the topic or just simply in deep thought. Regardless, he made sure to let his opinions known, hoping to boost her confidence.

"Well then let me be the first to say that I honestly, most sincerely-"

"Actually… no…" she blurted out halfway through his incoming praise.

Her voice sounded mellow and hushed.

"A… A lot of people have actually heard me sing before but that was very long ago; I was very young. Cinnamon and I, being the silly kittens that we were, agreed to let Shigure take a video of our singing.

"She uploaded it on MewTube and a lot of people saw it. It wasn't a flattering video either. Looking at it years later, it never fails to make me feel so embarrassed."

"It couldn't have been that bad, right? You were little after all. No one will take it hard on you."

"No one did."

She looked up to him with soft, green eyes. Her mouth barely moved as she spoke earnestly in a low mutter.

"Everyone liked it. It circulated quite a lot and of the many comments it had, most of it had nothing but nice remarks and praise."

She carried on, not giving him time to respond.

"But that was long ago. I don't really think about it much anymore."

"Hm? Why not?"

"…because it was just something I did when I was a kitten. I was naïve and loved to live in my own fantasies and dreams. It was quite selfish of me. Eventually, I learnt to be more real.

"In the end, it's nothing more than a come-and-go kind of thing."

He simply kept quiet, not knowing what to say.

He is hitting something really personal and sensitive here.

She sounded so child-like and hopeful as she told him that little bit of story of hers. It came out of nowhere when she turned it away coldly and crushing whatever made it seem like a happy memory.

It didn't make sense. If what she said was true, and that many people have actually praised her for her performance, she wouldn't be feeling this way.

An achievement like that would be something everyone would have held close to heart with great pride.

Miyureno suspected that something must have happened that made her dislike that part of her childhood.

As much as he wanted to find out more, he thought it would be best not to pursue her with his questions if she didn't feel comfortable sharing it right now.

After a while, the focus of the conversation turned to him.

"What about you?"

"Hmm?"

"You don't just have a passion for singing, that's for sure. You sound like you know a lot about music. What's your story?"

Now it was sounding like Maple was trying to de-rail their conversation. Perhaps the awkwardness that hung in the air was making her feel insecure?

"Story?" he looked at her blankly.

Still with her arms crossed through her torso, she had her full attention focused on him and was looking very intrigued.

"You know, what made you want to sing? Or be so interested in it enough to know how say things like that."

She continued to explain herself, "Hearing you say things like melody and vocals coming together to make it sound nice overall is quite a comment to make."

She shrugged to herself.

"You could've just said 'nice'."

"Well…" he began as he thought through a response.

If Maple felt uncomfortable telling him so many private and silly things about herself, it would only be fair for him to give her some of his own.

Miyureno was just worried; he enjoys knowing more about her and wanted to make sure that she feels the same way.

"I can't say that it's just like your story but it's kind of similar. I've had people support me. Not as much as you do. Just a couple handful whose opinions I valued a lot."

"So do you have an ambition for it or anything?"

Miyureno paused for a long while. He cast a wayward stare at the ebbing waves beyond the railing in-front of them. His expression became serious as he plunged deep in thought about her question.

Yup. It was his turn to feel insecure, Miyureno concluded.

Catching onto this, Maple spoke with worry.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to answer if you aren't okay wit-"

"No-No." he interrupted her.

"I was just trying to put it all to words.

"I just have a big interest and appreciation for music in general. But not to the extent of making it a career. I don't become too professional or technical about it. I just do it for fun."

Maple tilted her head and gave him a puzzled look.

"Just for fun? That's a waste, you have passion to get you far, I believe."

Miyureno chuckled, "You don't know that…"

"Really? But it's obvious with the way you work though. Every day when you are off-duty you seem to be doing work in the café. I wondered how can you put up with it but as you say your stories, I realise that it's because you have pride in what you do."

She lifted a finger to her chin, "Pride and passion. No matter how dry your reports are, you seem so driven to finish it. Because of pride and passion… right?"

"Jeez Maple, you're reading me more than I do to myself!" he joked.

"Hey, being the quiet one and standing away to observe and watch has its perks!"

He smiled and nodded at the wise words of the catgirl.

Truly, she is on another level than her sisters, as he expected of her.

"So, I guess your enjoyment in life saving is more than in singing? That's why you chose the job you're in now?"

"Not really…"

Not expecting such a response, Maple's ears perked up in surprise.

"Oh?"

"I _loved_ singing. I _loved_ music.

"I didn't think about joining this line of work that I'm in now until a few years back," he spoke, referring to his current job as a firefighter.

He rubbed the side of his arm.

"Singing however… that passion has been there for a while."

"But something happened?"

Maple connected the dots and arrived at that conclusion. However, she was quick to make sure that he does not reply to it. She understood from his expression and change in tone that it was a sensitive topic.

Immediately, she added on.

"You and I sound quite alike."

He smiled weakly as he looked down to the ground.

"That we had dreams and passion?"

Maple nodded with bright, optimistic eyes.

"Yes! And we are also similar in the way it ended up. It looks like our lives took another turn that we did not want it to…"

"Yeah…"

Miyureno lifted his arm and planted it squarely on her head.

This sudden action drew a gasp from the catgirl.

He rubbed it gently, rustling her soft blonde hair.

She smiled wide and accepted the head-pat.

He returned it with a beaming grin of his own.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **TaRouTaRhoe, 6 June 2018**

 **And there we have it! More and more of the fuzziness between Maple and Miyureno unfolds! Yay!**

 **Meanwhile, a greater deal of Miyureno's background is made known.**

 **Stick around to find out what more lies for our two beloved characters!**


	8. Chapter 8: Yamashita Park Pt 2

"Hmmm"

"Well, Azuki?" a gentle voice chimed, causing the leaves around them to rustle.

The short catgirl she was talking to took the pair of binoculars off of her brown eyes. She turned to Cinnamon who was kneeling beside her and was leaning so close by.

She swore that the big catgirl would eventually lose stability and crush her under her weight. Their body types were vastly different in size after all.

"Oi Mon-Cinna, back off will ya? They've been doing the same thing since ya asked me ten minutes ago!"

With exaggerated hand gestures, Azuki continued, "They're just sitting there. Talkin'. That's. It."

The Periwinkle-haired catgirl mewed in response, "Nyaa~ Sitting is just one of the things, Azuki-chan! What else, what else?"

She prodded her sister, nudging her insistently – to her annoyance.

"They could be holding hands. O-or crossing their legs together, or May-chan could be leaning on his shoulder, or! OR! They could be making lewd faces to each other, it's just that we can't see it!"

At this point, the drooling catgirl was all over Azuki, making a very smutty and aroused face.

The Munchkin Cat began to feel rather uncomfortable with her dazed behaviour.

"W-WAH! Mon-Cinna! Get a grip of yourself! Pull-May ain't that kinda catgirl. Of all us here, I thought you'd know better!"

The small catgirl squirmed and thrashed in despair, "AH! MON-CINNAA! Back off I tell ya! Arh! NUTS! HELPPPP!"

Cinnamon decided to take matters into her own hands and was now attempting to steal the binoculars from her elder sister.

Threatening to completely roll her over, Azuki called out for help and tried very hard to snap the dazed catgirl out of her blind, desperate pursuit.

Meanwhile, their younger sister sat unhappily behind them.

A few leaves and tiny twigs were sticking to her long, messy white hair. Some were even latching on to her clothing and the rest of her body. She squirmed in unease as a result. Crunching her lips, she looked at her sisters with watery eyes.

Coconut had pretty much been whining the entire time that they had spent in that bush.

Before that, they stood around the open promenade grounds leading into the jetty like they always would when they came to the park and were waiting for everyone to come together.

Normally, Maple would join them after she had her alone time on the jetty and both Kashou and Shigure would drop by once they had bought them their snacks.

However, an acute Cinnamon had noticed that her best friend was not alone the whole time.

"Eh?" she wondered out loud.

Cinnamon twitched her nose and turn around and around, trying to look for something.

Once she had caught the whiff, her eyes widened and she turned her gaze straight to the jetty.

"Mon-Cinna, what's gotten into you? That's kind of a creepy thing to do," Azuki commented with a puzzled expression.

The catgirl pointed at the two distant figures which Coconut and Azuki struggled to see. She explained that Maple was not actually on her own; there was a man with her.

"Wah?! You can see that far?!" Coconut exclaimed in shock as she strained her amber and blue eyes.

Azuki had a palm over her eyes as she peered.

"I don't see- ARH!"

With sudden strength and determination, the soft-spoken catgirl carried the two of her unsuspecting sisters into a shrub located at the edge of the park. While Coconut was gasping in surprise at Cinnamon's sudden strength, Azuki squirmed in panic in her tight grip.

Maple and the unknown man were seated at the jetty a good distance straight in-front of the bush they were in.

No one knows where did Cinnamon get the pair of binoculars from but somehow she managed to pull it out of nowhere.

Not wanting to delve into that mystery much, Azuki merely nodded.

The trio made sure to put it to full use nonetheless.

Azuki and Coconut confirmed that Maple was indeed accompanied by some unknown guy at the jetty. For close to 10 minutes now, they have been planted within that bush and were spying on the two.

Nothing much actually took place though.

They were giggling, snickering and smirking to themselves as they looked on – except for Coconut, Coconut just felt out of place in the small bush.

"Nyaaaa," the tanned catgirl cried expressively

"Azukiiii, Cinnamonnnn can we get out of here now? These leaves and twigs are making me all itchyyyy!"

The commotion between her two elder sisters distracted them from her pleas.

"Azukiii! Give me the telescope please~!"

The eldest catgirl couldn't help but respond in a choked voice.

"Gwah! Mon… Cinna! I would give it to ya, I swear! It's just…" she heaved a deep breath before yelling at the top of her lungs.

"CAN YA PLEASE GET OFF OF ME SO THAT I CAN MOVE AND BREATHE?!"

If she weren't pinned by her sister, she would have been thrashing about fiercely right now and unleashing hell upon the stubborn catgirl on top of her.

Unfortunately, she can do no such thing from where she was.

Coconut yelped in surprise from an issue unrelated to that happening to the other two.

"U…UWAHHH?! AZUKIIIIIII! I FELT SOMETHING CRAWL UP MY LEG."

She froze; her long and furry white tail stood up on its ends and shivered.

Then, whatever it was tickled her again.

"NYAAA! BLSKILPILAPIDSHKEDEBB!" the large catgirl pounced onto Azuki and Cinnamon in panic.

She continued her frightful cries as she tried to nuzzle herself into Azuki as much as possible.

Unfortunately, this did not bode well to the short-haired catgirl who was practically buried under her sisters.

She let out a soul-less plea as she was shoved face-first into the dirt, "Gwek! Mon…. Cinna...! Nuts…. Damn….it!"

* * *

"Wahh! Their takoyaki tastes wonderfully great today, nya~!" Chocola cheered melodically with a wide smile

The brown-haired catgirl was skipping happily alongside Kashou and Vanilla, holding their hands tightly as she pranced about.

"Chocola, careful now. You keep moving about, I might drop all these takoyakis."

"-And if he does, master will have to walk all the way back to Milk's takoyaki stand and get our sister's portions again."

Vanilla tilted her head and thought about what she said.

"Actually, that's not really a bad thing, huh?"

"You're a sadist, Vanilla…" he said in a hopeless sigh.

The catgirl he spoke to forcefully turned her head away from him.

"Hmph!"

"Well, I don't _have_ to do that kind of thing though, don't I?"

Vanilla looked at him with sharp, blue eyes. Her expressionless face seemed to be judging him critically.

"You underestimate how disappointed we catgirls can get if we don't get what we expected."

Hearing her say that in such a straightforward manner made him swallow a lump.

His sister, Shigure, who was to his left giggled and nodded in agreement to Vanilla's statement, "Well, Nii-sama. Azuki, Maple, Cinnamon and Coconut _do_ get quite upset if they don't get their food."

"All the more reason not to let me drop it…" he said, laughing nervously at the end.

Kashou, together with Shigure and his two catpanions, Chocola and Vanilla, were just on the way back from the takoyaki food stall.

At first, they were walking alongside the elder Minaduki catgirls save for Maple who decided to visit the pier. Halfway through, they decided to head back to their meeting point first while himself, his sister, Chocola, and Vanilla made their way to Milk's food stall.

Having done this almost every time they visited the park, Kashou and Shigure have memorised exactly what takoyaki flavour each of them would want.

They were walking on the last stretch of the park pavement leading to their meeting point.

To their left was the open sea and to the right was the park with its trees and thick greenery. The blue lamp lights glowed faintly, illuminating their path ahead in fixed intervals. The jetty Maple was on was in view but it was too far out that no one in their group could make out whether she was still there or not.

Vanilla fed her sister with another bite of a takoyaki ball. The bright-eyed kitten hummed happily in delight to its savoury taste.

Suddenly, they heard some rustling in the bushes.

Surprised, Chocola pressed herself against Kashou while Vanilla jumped back with a snarl on her face.

"Uwah! Monster!" Chocola shouted in despair as fear filled her eye.

"Master! Help!"

The catgirl pleaded as she buried her face on his side.

Meanwhile, Vanilla adopted a less docile reaction. She was hissing at whatever was moving about to their right.

"Hsss! Who's there?! Come out! Hsss!"

Kashou was dumbfounded. The way his two catgirls were behaving was distracting him from thinking through his actions carefully. He still for a moment and stared at the direction the sound came from before shouting after his catgirl.

"Vanilla! Careful! Come over here now!"

The catgirl refused to budge, still standing in a battle-ready posture.

Chocola reached out for her sister and pulled her in.

Vanilla continued to glare with threatening eyes as she brandished her sharp teeth and reached out her palms with nails ready for action. Her sister hugged her tight. Vanilla was pretty much squeezed into Chocola now.

Whatever had made that noise was moving about again, causing the leaves to rustle loudly. The four of them could faintly hear a muffled commotion.

Kashou felt someone tugging at his left shirt sleeve. Not knowing better, his sister Shigure spoke softly with a shaky voice, "Nii-sama. Do something!"

He held her close to him. At this point, the three girls he was with were stuck close to him, with one threatening to fight back while the other two cowered in fright.

"U-um! Just hold on! We'll just take a step back okay?"

As Kashou said this with a confused stammer, he noticed something in the darkness of the bushes, something really out of place. So out of place, in fact, that his nervousness and edge were completely tossed out of the picture.

From a particular bush that was shaking vigorously, he saw three… tails (?) sticking out of it.

He loosened his tight grip on Chocola and Shigure and began walking to the bush, more curious than scared. As he neared it, the tails became more apparent.

Something was definitely inside that bush, one tail was slender and stripe, the other was a furry lavender blue while the third one was the furriest of them all – it was blonde coloured.

The tails flicked around as the occupants of that bush moved about. While he was shocked at first, he soon came to a conclusion as to what could those tails possibly belong to. With such a variety of colours, he could easily guess who they were.

* * *

Having obtained what she wanted after ravaging Azuki for so long, Cinnamon took hold of the binoculars and squealed in joy.

Meanwhile, her eldest sibling lay motionless on the ground; her face was pretty much buried into the dirt at this point.

Azuki groaned and twitched for a bit before she pushed herself up from the dirt. She spat out some grit that was forcefully shoved into her mouth and took a deep breath of fresh air.

"Wahhhh~ I... I'm alive!" she exclaimed in relief.

Coconut got off Azuki before Cinnamon did. She held, in her hands, a stick which was now hovering up and above her head threateningly. She was looking out for whatever was creeping around them and climbing over her a while ago.

She frowned sharply as her amber and blue eyes darted about with extreme focus and determination. Noticing Cinnamon getting off of Azuki and now holding the binoculars in her hands, Coconut reached in to yank it off of her.

"Nyeh!" she grimaced in anger.

"Can't we just stop our spying for a moment and leave this bush?!"

As she expressed her frustration, she waved the binoculars in frenzy. Unknowingly, her hands slipped and it ended up hurtling out of the bush.

THUD! They heard a loud sound from just outside where they were. Then, shortly after that, there was another loud bump.

Azuki, Cinnamon and Coconut ceased their bickering immediately and popped their heads out to check out what had happened.

Kashou lay on the asphalt floor with a throbbing pain in his head.

His eyes spiralled in a daze as he groaned in pain. Everything happened in a flash; he was standing at the edge of the pavement and looking at the suspicious bush before something came zooming out of it and hitting him square on his forehead – before he knew it, he was on the ground.

The suddenness of this sprang the other three into action.

Shigure reeled back in surprise while Chocola jumped high in shock at the sudden object flying out of the bush. Vanilla couldn't contain herself at this point and just dashed to the bush, hissing.

"HSSS! I GOT YOU N-"

Then,

in an instant, she caught a whiff of the scent coming out of the bush and was immediately pacified.

"Oh. Azuki, Cinnamon, Coconut. What're you doing in there?"

The once angry-looking catgirl now stood there calmly. Her hands rested on the centre of her skirt, clasping each other. Her fury-filled eye-slits gave way to her usual innocent looking blue pupils. From said bush, the sisters she called out to popped out and walked over to the pavement.

"Oh. Vanilla." Coconut called out as she dusted the leaves off of her arms.

Meanwhile, Chocola shrieked in worry.

"NYA! Master! Master, are you okay?!"

The catgirl cladded in her red dress was knelt next to Kashou, pushing him softly at his side to break him out of his daze. Shigure was opposite to her, rubbing his forehead.

"Something hard must've hit you, Nii-sama," she said in a serious tone.

Shigure looked around and noticed a pair of binoculars lying nearby.

"EH? Kashou?!" Azuki cried out in shock after noticing the man sprawled on the floor and groaning shakily in confusion and pain.

"Kashou-san!" Cinnamon, too, called to him.

Azuki, Cinnamon and Coconut scurried over to his sides. All of them had a look of concern on their faces. Vanilla stood right behind where his head lay. She leaned over to look at him too.

"Master, you okay?"

Kashou's eyes were still spiralling but he blinked hard and snapped himself out of his state of astonishment. He sat up with a groan.

The catgirls gasped. Chocola and Shigure grabbed hold of his upper arm and supported him while Vanilla pushed on his back.

"Damn… what just happened?" he muttered in pain. He tapped lightly on his forehead and winced.

* * *

As he looked on at the slowly rotating Cosmo Clock 21 Ferris Wheel shining brightly in the distance, Miyureno picked up from what he and Maple were talking about.

"So, if you really are facing similar problems that I am facing," he began.

"Then you must have the same thought gnawing at your mind huh?"

He turned to the American Curl sitting beside him before he continued.

"That you go about doing what you do today knowing that you could instead be out there chasing your dreams."

Maple gave him a small smile and nodded her head.

"But what can we do?" she sighs.

"The reality of things is that we are what we have to be, whether we like it or not…"

He understands. The way she put it made it sound so one-sided and extreme but he understands how she feels.

"Is it that impossible though, Maple?"

She gave him a puzzled look.

"Why don't you just up and chase after it, I don't see anything stopping you."

She crossed her arms and frowned lightly, "I would if I could but we catgirls are not really meant to go big."

"What?! Where did you hear that from? That is _not_ true!"

"Just look around, Miyureno. Do you see any catgirls capable to achieving the things I dream of?"

"There are though! There are those catgirls overseas who are part of a famous runway fashion show!"

"That's because their owners own the clothing line."

"Then… then there is also that one catgirl who appears in popular films too!"

"Yes but look at her behind-the-scenes and red-carpet appearances, that catgirl is always following her more-famous, more-respected man she is a catpanion to."

Before he could make another suggestion out of nowhere, Miyureno stopped his argument short and took a thoughtful look at the responses Maple was giving.

It appears that all of his examples involved catgirls whose effort and talents were shadowed by their owners – an occurrence that he soon realised was not isolated to those two sets of catgirls he had just mentioned.

The one catgirl known to be good at ice-skating has an owner that is not as good as she is but is still well-recognised for training the catgirl to do such tricks.

The catgirl famous for her eye-catching dance moves receives a lot of fame and fan-love but her owner who talks about how he has cultivated her talent and groomed her to be the dancer she is today gets even more attention and applause.

"You see," the girl beside him said with a hard, matter-of-factly tone.

"Us catgirls, no matter how good we are, will never gain full credit for our own success."

Miyureno kept his curious gaze to Maple who looked out to the glimmering lights ahead of them as she spoke. Her lips curled into a sad smile and her half-lidded eyes looking fatigued and forlorn.

Her down-casted expression resonated within him after seeing her that way. He could feel her sadness.

"People may get very impressed with what we do and send praises and cheers but, in the end, one question will always, always hang over their heads."

"Who is the owner of that catgirl?" Miyureno guessed.

She nodded her head slowly.

"And what did he or she do to groom his or her catgirl that way. For every great catgirl, there will always be a better owner."

He averted his attention to the ground, looking glum.

What she says is true and near impossible to avoid. Society does not view catgirls as equal to humans. Due to their cat-like nature and inability to control their instincts, they are often seen as needing a human to look over them.

As much as the catgirl bells gives them freedom, it also reflects that said catgirl is 'owned' by someone. After all, the bell and the certificate accompanying it has to be signed by a human guardian to the catgirl. This agreement for the human to take care of the catgirl is also reviewed regularly.

What this means is that; catgirls will always be bound to a human no matter what and the way that Maple perceives this in terms of achieving her dreams is that…

"So… I will never truly achieve what I want because of me, and me alone."

His heart sank at that comment. It sounded as final as it can ever be; like her destiny and fate was sealed in timeless amber.

 _Is this really enough to discourage her from even trying?_ He asked himself.

If you have an ambition; a desire to _be_ someone, to be remembered for something, it's a matter of uniqueness.

The person who has achieved stands out from everyone else.

For human beings, that is.

Whatever Maple has her eyes set towards, she knows that she may hold a trophy or touch the hearts and minds of millions but not because of her sole effort.

In the end, she won't stand out as a single, talented individual but someone well supported by others.

Maple is a strong, independent catgirl, that much is true. Miyureno has observed her behaviour time and time again.

Naturally, the answer would be,

 _Yes._

To know that you won't be recognised for your effort and success, to share your achievements with others when it was really your own blood, sweat and tears, is really discouraging to the dreamer.

To an ambitious catgirl who wants to stand up for herself, it's a dream-crushing reality.

"Maple, I'm sorry to hear that," he spoke out in a soft mutter, his eyes still glued to the floor. His words were genuine and the disheartened tone laced with it was too.

"Don't be. As I said, I just have to deal with it."

 _To live everyday of your life knowing that you will always be dwarfed by others is not something you can just 'deal with'_ _…_

Maple let out a sigh and chuckled lightly.

She stood up and leaned on the railing ahead of their bench. With her back to him, she spoke in a happy tune.

"Don't be sad for me, Miyureno. It's my own life and I will learn how to manage."

He looked up at her as she twirled around, her face bright and optimistic.

The glow of the Ferris Wheel encapsulated her like how it did moments ago when she was singing. She looked like she was shining as if the glow was supporting her attempt to look happy.

"I have been coping well so far, right? I've kept this secret to myself since childhood!"

Miyureno merely chuckled. Maple was clearly troubled by it but if she is trying so hard to see things in a more positive light then he should too.

In the end, this topic should be continued on another day; they have been at it with the deep conversation for a while now and he needs time and space to think.

He heaved and stood up as well. She shifted to her left to make space for him as he, too, leaned on the railing.

"I suppose so Maple. If everyone were to look at you and see how you are day-to-day, they wouldn't have guessed that you had these kind of worries."

He then turned to her.

"But still…"

Miyureno laid a hand on her head and patted it.

Maple scrunched up her face and recoiled at it before standing straight up again, looking up at him with a light smile and glimmering emerald eyes.

This catgirl, he couldn't help but smile whole-heartedly at her even after the solemn conversation they just had.

Maple really is some personality. What he used to know as a strong, collected catgirl, he now saw riddled with weaknesses and vulnerabilities all around her. There she stood, showing strong expressions and emotions that he is not used to seeing from her before.

Even if what she has shown so far were insecurities and doubts in herself, he adored her even more so than before this talk.

Through what she has said, she has shown mature and composed thinking. Showing happiness and sadness in the way she did meant that she was all the more human than robot. She just keeps it tucked away from others.

He ruffled the hair between her two blonde curly cat-ears, eliciting a giggle from her.

"But still," he repeated.

"Don't keep all these thoughts to yourself. You're independent and cool, I know. Even after what you've said, you still are. So don't feel like telling me anything you feel sad or troubled about is going to make me look down at you further."

"Miyureno…" she simply said with wide eyes transfixed at him.

"I adore you, Maple; And I admire your dream. As impossible as it seems and even though I can't really offer much help, I'd be sure to help you deal with your troubles about it if you so need any help. That's what friends are for, right?"

"…Miyureno…" she continued, flabbergasted.

With a slowly growing smile, her eyes widened and became more so gleeful.

She grinned and nodded happily, "Right!"

The two of them laughed lightly together. Miyureno stopped petting her head and shifted his hand away.

Maple quickly sighed, this time, happily.

"You were right about what you said that day, when you talked to me about Azuki and Coconut's fight; having someone to talk to helps even if there are no actual suggestions given."

She closed her eyes and lowered her head with a smile, "Thanks, Miyureno. Really."

He smiled back at her and nodded curtly.

She looked down at his torso with content eyes and a small curl of lips which emanated the joy she had inside.

"It's getting late and the rest are probably wondering where I am."

"Oh, right! Your sisters are here too, huh?"

"Yup… Kashou and Shigure too."

"Then you better go before they start getting suspicious."

"Tsk."

Maple gave him a smirk and walked away.

Taking a few steps further from the bench and Miyureno, she stopped and tilted her head to the side.

"Oh yeah," she said.

The American Curl turned around, her long blonde hair and plaited skirt flowing along.

"Are you going to be coming here anytime soon?"

"Hm? Yeah, sure!"

With a twinkle in her eye, she replied, "Then, let's meet up here again the next time you do?"

She looked out to the sea to her right.

"Tonight's talk was enjoyable… and I hope we can have more."

Miyureno smiled at her request. The delight he was feeling at hearing how much she appreciated their conversation surprised him. He doesn't know why but knowing that Maple found it all okay made him very much happy as well.

"O-of course! Same time?"

She giggled at his stammer and nodded, swiping a flying hair strand behind her ear.

"Goodnight Miyureno," she finally said before she turned around and continued walking away.

"Goodnight Maple!" he called out in a wave.

* * *

"Reaaally now?" Kashou questioned as he scratched his chin.

Having recovered from his dazed concussion after being hit by a literal bullet hurled by a particularly strong (and angry) Maine Coon – who has repeatedly pleaded to him for an apology – Kashou, Azuki and Coconut were out on the promenade grounds again.

They took a seat at a bench far away from the jetty entrance, out of view from Maple and the 'guy'.

While his sister and his two catpanions followed Cinnamon to 'spy' on Maple, Kashou was lying on the bench the whole time and only came to a few minutes ago.

Azuki had just explained to him why the three of them were hiding in the bush just now and what observations they made.

"Do you guys really have to hide in that bush though?"

Azuki pumped a fist to her chest and leaned to him.

She replied with great determination, "O-of course! It is of utmost importance to gather information on Pull-May's private activities!"

She then muttered under her breath, "…'cus it provides great blackmail material…"

"That's disappointing… for a second there I thought you were going to say something so sisterly…"

"H-hey!" the Munchkin cat glared.

"Blackmail is not all I'm looking out for okay, I'm concerned about Maple's safety too, ya know."

"Uh… right, okay."

Before the small catgirl would literally burst into flames before him, Kashou quickly turned his attention to Coconut who was sitting to his left.

She sat with droopy ears and sadness in her eyes as she nibbled on her takoyaki ball.

"Like it?" he asked.

Coconut simply nodded, still looking glum.

"Hey, don't worry about it okay. I'm all fine now and it was just an accident!"

The large catgirl simply nodded and whined a weakly, "Mhmm~".

Kashou chuckled as he patted her back encouragingly.

He then heard loud footsteps approaching from across the open promenade, it was the rest of the catgirls and his sister. They ran straight to them with smiles on their faces. The catgirl's tails stood on end as they giggled out loud.

Kashou raised a brow questioningly at them.

"She's coming back!"

Oh…

"Nyahaha!" Chocola laughed as she ran ahead of the rest and aimed for him.

"Master! You're okay!"

He smiled and stood up, opening his arms in preparation for an embrace from his catpanion.

Chocola leaped into his arms, nuzzling against his side.

"Of course I'm okay. The bush-monster isn't going to get me that easily!" he joked.

As he looked up from Chocola's brown hair, he felt another thud impact on him. He noticed that Vanilla joined in the embrace, her face was also planted into his shirt. The only thing he saw now was her white hair and ears.

"Stupid Master…" she said in a muffled voice.

He smiled warmly at her and patted her head.

"Nii-sama!" his sister shouted as she slowed to a halt.

"You should have seen it! Maple is on the jetty with some man!"

"Yeah I know, Azuki and Coconut have just told me."

"The guy was touching her!" Cinnamon said with lustful eyes and a flushed face.

"Wha-what?!" Kashou yelled in shock.

"Cinnamon-oneechan... he was just petting her," Chocola said after letting go of Kashou.

"Oh. Well you should've made it clear, Cinnamon. Don't go around spouting things in such a way."

Vanilla seemed to be against him, her sharp eyes looked at him fiercely.

"Actually, Master. It doesn't sound so dirty, it's just that your mind has automatically made it seem dirty."

The white catgirl shook her head disapprovingly.

"You naughty pervy pastry puffer…"

Kashou merely sighed, not willing to put up an argument at the moment. He focused back on the subject at hand and began questioning out of curiosity.

"So did you all get a good look of this guy?"

Cinnamon shook her head with a sad look in her eyes.

"It was too dark."

"That's too bad," Kashou scratched the back of his head.

He peered around Cinnamon's shoulder and saw Maple approaching from the other end.

The lone catgirl waved a hand lightly, her back was straightened as she walked with a dignified stride.

Nothing seemed unusual there.

The guy she was with was nowhere to be seen now.

"So, are we going to tell her? Or keep it a secret?" he asked the girls around him.

"Heh! Ya kiddin'?!" Azuki snickered.

"We're going to bug her to no end!" Vanilla added.

Cinnamon chimed happily as she imagined her sister's reaction, "No way, Kashou-san! This is our only chance to make Maple speechless and nervous!"

"Nyahaha!"

Even Coconut had sinister thoughts about it.

"Teasing Maple-oneechan is quite hard, yeah? So successfully doing it just makes it so so rewarding!"

Kashou's eyes averted from the grinning Maine Coon and shifted to Maple.

The unsuspecting catgirl is in for a world of annoyance and teasing soon, he could tell.

He sighed to himself as he braced himself for the commotion that was to come.

 **A/N**

 **TaRouTaRhoe, 8 June 2018**

 **Hello! Another chapter done!**

 **Unfortunately, the upload schedule is catching up too fast to me so expect a few delays to the next chapter!**  
 **Will be on a short holiday too! On the bright side, it'll relax my mind so that I can churn out better quality chapters!**

 **Or that's what I'm counting on anyways. Haha!**

 **Until next time!**


	9. Chapter 9: Sister

"Ugh! It's so hot out here!"

"Wow. The place hasn't opened yet and the queue is already this long?!"

"Ehhhh! The staff seems to be just standing around in there, open it up already!"

Miyureno groaned at the complaints of those around him.

He wiped away the sweat from his forehead and glanced over at his phone for the time – it was currently 8.55am.

He turned to look behind him only to see a long snaking line of people waiting with him.

In his usual jogging pants and crew neck T-shirt, he gawked in disbelief at the sheer number of customers waiting outside Patisserie La Soleil. Opening is less than five minutes away and it seems like those at the back-end of the queue may not be able to get any seats without waiting longer.

In fact, as he attempted to count the number of those in-front of him, he figured that maybe even he himself might have to wait a while more.

He huffed in frustration.

The sun was beginning to peak over the roof of the opposite building so there was no more shade to shield him from its scorching blaze. Very soon, him and those around him will be sweltering uncomfortably in their apparel.

It has been three days since he had last seen Maple at Yamashita Park that one fateful night.

He had to work overtime on his previous duty so instead of it ending the previous morning, it stretched to mid-afternoon. Once he had left the fire station, he simply concluded that he should just spend the rest of the day resting at home.

The lack of productivity therefore made him uneasy. Plus, he wanted to make it up to the catgirls for his absence. So he decided to come by earlier than usual today.

From the looks of things though, he may not get his favourite spot today.

 _Won't I be a nuisance to others in the queue too, though?_

The man wondered if he would have to be chased away for occupying space longer than he needs to. If he loitered about to do his work, those outside waiting to be seated and consume a fine meal would be infuriated.

As his thoughts lingered on this, some commotion behind him stole his attention.

He turned to see Shigure, Azuki and Maple pushing through the crowd.

"Excuse us. Passing by!" Shigure said as calmly as possible. She held onto some heavily stuffed grocery bags on each hand.

Azuki was hot on her heels with a long trailing list of paper. She was glaring at it, ticking away at its inscriptions with a pencil.

The third, Maple, was a few steps behind them. The blonde held a small box in her hand and was looking at it intently, reading it very closely.

The trio were so caught up with their own stuff that they did not pick up on Miyureno's presence.

One after another, they brushed past him unknowingly as they ignored the greetings and remarks by the crowd who recognised the staff and the co-owner of the establishment they were waiting so patiently to open.

Miyureno simply stared blankly at them. Not wanting to add to the white noise and risk irritating them further, he restrained himself from calling out to them.

Suddenly, Maple stopped a few steps from him.

Her curly ears perked up while her nose twitched a bit. She hummed curiously and twisted around to look for whatever she had instinctively caught on to.

Her green eyes landed on him.

"Miyureno?"

Shigure and Azuki did not seem to notice their third companion stop and just continued further down the line.

He simply gave her a courteous smile and greeted her.

"Hey," he said.

Maple tilted her head, confused at the sight of him standing there. Quickly regaining her cool from the momentary shock, she stepped to him and grabbed his wrists, pulling him along all of a sudden.

As much as he was astonished by her sudden physical contact, the people around him were too. He gasped and stammered as he stumbled from her yanking before he composed himself and followed obediently along.

"Who is he?" someone in the queue asked.

"Must be some close friend to the café"

"Business partner, maybe? Look at the laptop bag he has"

"Can't be, his attire is too casual"

"Man, I wish I could be him right now and beating this long queue"

"That's kinda not fair to us, isn't it?"

As the random comments from those around were hurled at him and Maple, he tried his best to ignore them and stuck close to the catgirl ahead.

She eventually led him to the entrance and swung the glass door open for him. Gratefully, he took a step inside and she followed soon after. He sighed in relief as he was greeted by the cool air-conditioned breeze inside.

"Thank god… It was getting very _very_ uncomfortable out there!" he said as he stretched.

He still remained standing at the doormat.

Maple paced past him and tilted to look back for a moment.

"Miyureno-san," she called, interrupting his stretching abruptly.

"Come on, before those outside begin to think you're cheating the system and hogging their seats."

"Hm? Okay."

To his surprise, she walked over to the stairs and went up it, her brown heeled work shoes tapped lightly on the wooden floor-boards.

For a moment he hesitated and doubted her directions. But he followed her regardless.

At the top of the flight of stairs, Maple opened the door to the left and disappeared behind it. Miyureno followed suit and found himself at Kashou's living room.

It was a rather open and well-furnished space.

The kitchen, complete with a stove, sink, refrigerator and ample counter-tops to work on, was to his left. Ahead of the kitchen's counter was the dining table with six seats on each length.

To his right was the sitting area. There was a long L-shaped sofa, a coffee table and a few extra cushions all placed on a large carpet. This entire set-up was facing towards a wall-mounted TV positioned on the same wall as the door he was at.

Finally, opposite him was a large balcony window that covers most of the wall, allowing plenty of sunshine to flood into the place.

Overall, it's a rather comfortable abode where everything one needs is all in a single room. Despite that, there is still a lot of space to move around. Miyureno guessed that the other doors at the end of the stairs led to the bedrooms and the toilet.

The catgirl he was following went to the sofas. She gave out a few instructions to him as she did so.

"You can take a seat at the dining table, Miyureno. Let me go get something first."

"Alright," he replied.

He took the seat in the middle, on the side facing the door he just came from. After a while, Maple returned from the sofa with her apron and orange waitress headband in hand as well as the box that she was studying so closely downstairs.

"If you are going to stay long to do your work, I think it's better for you to be up here," she explains.

The catgirl placed the box on the table before she neatly tucked the headband a few inches behind her long fringe.

"Sure thing. It's quite a cosy set-up over here. Hopefully Kashou doesn't mind."

"I'm sure he won't."

She points to the wall at the head of the table.

"The power plug is over there if you need it."

Miyureno nodded, "Got it. Thanks!"

She began tying a bow behind her waist to secure her apron in place.

"I'm sorry if I'll take a while to bring your order up Miyureno-san."

"Hm? Oh. It's alright. I'm not that picky about it so take your time."

He noticed the hurried state that the catgirl was in and combined that with his observations of the abnormally lengthy queue earlier.

"Café's quite busy today?"

Maple twirled around as she struggled a bit with the tying. She frowned when she fumbled and caused the apron to drop to the ground. As she reached down to pick it up and began tying it again, Miyureno approached her.

"Here, let me help."

"There's no need. I can do it myse- h-hey!"

The American Curl retorted in surprise at Miyureno's insistence. He took the strings away from her and began tying the bow for her. She sighed in defeat and simply brought her arms up to her hair to begin tidying things up there instead.

"Damn it, Miyureno. Fine. I'm in a rush anyway so… Thank you."

"Mm!" he verbalised, amused at her reaction.

"Yup. The café is caught up with a lot of work today," she said in reply to his question.

Maple grabbed the box on the table and brought it over her shoulder for him to see as he continued to help her with her apron.

"We are having some promotion this morning – unlimited premium tea. This particular flavour only."

He took a close look at the wordings on the box from where he stood. Indeed, it looked like a luxurious tea-brand that was unlike any other.

"That's cool."

"Yeah. We decided on this to commemorate the start of summer. This tea-leaf goes high in supply towards this season so we thought it'd be apt to use it for this promotion."

"Oh. So all the bags that Shigure was carrying earlier contained many boxes of these?"

"That's right. We did not expect so many people to turn up so we decided at the last minute that we needed to get more."

"I see! Well, it's definitely getting a lot of attention, that's for sure. I didn't know that such tea is highly sought after."

Miyureno was done with helping her out with her apron. He shifted to stand by her side, leaning on a chair as he maintained his attention to her.

While she was straightened the bowtie on the base of her neck and adjusted her golden catgirl bell – which caused it to chime softly – she continued.

"We would normally charge a high price for a cup or pot of this so the discount is huge for them."

"Still, I didn't really take Kashou for a tea-guy. If anything, he'd be promoting his pastries."

Maple was done with the final touches to her outfit and appearance. She looked at him with a proud expression on her face.

"That's because it's my idea, Miyureno!"

His eyes widened in response.

"Oh?! All of this?"

Maple nodded with a determined look.

"Wow," he said.

"So all these customers lining up outside right now, all these people who are about to reel in huge business for the café was all you're doing?

"Way to go innovating and thinking smart, Maple! That's impressive!"

"Mm! Thank you! Though, the latter can only be true if we actually do our work and serve all the customers present who came down."

Miyureno smiled at her.

"Busy-busy. Well, it sounds like such a big responsibility for you. Just remember to remain calm and think clearly, alright? If it gets hectic just maintain your composure and do what you do best, Maple. You're the tea expert here after all! And I'll be rooting for your success from up here!"

She shot a smirk at him.

"Hmmm? What is with all these motivational words? I never admitted to being nervous."

He laughed lightly at her wry comment, "Just in case you need it, silly. It's a huge role to play since given how it's because of you that there are a lot of people to serve today. It can be quite pressurising. So just know that you have my fullest support!"

"Thanks, Miyureno," she said, this time genuinely grateful.

She scratched an itch on her hand and glanced sideways awkwardly.

"Miyureno-san, you should take a break with all these nice words. If every other conversation we are going to have together leads to you saying things to help me, I'll be deeply in-debt to you…"

He shook his head insistently.

"There is no debt to any of this! It's simply what friends do for each other, right? Now go out there and make me and yourself proud!"

Maple giggled slightly and sent him a playful salute.

"Yes, Sir!"

Taken aback, Miyureno simply stared in stunned silence. The La Soleil secretary of tea took this chance to turn and leave.

"All the best!" was all he could say.

She waved a hand to him, not turning back as she hurried to the door.

"Thanks!"

After leaving the room and shutting the door behind her, Miyureno could hear her footsteps fade away.

Now by his lonesome, he decided to get to work; he set up his laptop in preparation of doing so.

As it was booting up, he grabbed his emptied water bottle from the laptop bag and proceeded to the kitchen's refrigerator to get it re-filled.

Before he swivelled the door open, the items magnetically attached to the front of the fridge caught his attention.

Many pictures of Kashou, Chocola and Vanilla together were plastered on the wall.

Happy moments and delightful occasions that they had shared were all captured in these still images. Cheerfulness and warmth emanated from each item, causing Miyureno to look at it, feeling heartfelt.

 _The two of those catgirls were really close to Kashou back then at the old home…_ he thought, recalling the times that he had spent at the Minaduki household before embarking on his job.

It came as no surprise to the fire-fighter that the two kittens decided to join him in this new home of his – no less lend a hand in setting up his new business.

Miyureno recalls how adamant his best friend was about dragging the two catgirls with him as he ventured on his own self-centred journey to defy his parent's wishes and pursue his own individual interests. Somehow, the twins still found a way to convince him otherwise.

Kudos to them, he admitted.

Judging from how stubborn and persistent catgirls can be at their age, there is no way he can separate himself from those two without having them put up a fight.

Despite Kashou's initial feelings about it all, there was no doubt that he appreciated their offer to assist. Taking a dive into a new, risky venture can be quite scary.

Some companions would do anyone good at this crucial point in their lives.

 _Companions huh..._

Miyureno's thoughts lingered on that particular word as it nagged at his mind. He recalled the conversation that he had with Maple at the jetty.

" _That's because their owners own the clothing line."_

" _Then… then there is also that one catgirl who appears in popular films too!"_

" _Yes but look at her behind-the-scenes and red-carpet appearances, that catgirl is always following her more-famous, more-respected man she is a catpanion to."_

Finally recalling the word that was on the tip of his tongue, he gasped in surprise.

 _Ah! That's it!_ _Catpanion._

He stared at the picture where Chocola and Vanilla were dressed in girly apparel. Kashou stood in the centre with one on each side. The backdrop was a large entrance with a sign reading 'Aquarium'.

It must be when they went to some amusement park, he concluded.

 _Catpanion…_

 _What a strange word._

He tried to think about what it meant; 'catpanion' was a term that he would come across from time to time, not knowing that it was actually a legitimate term with a proper meaning to it – that was, until he heard even Maple say it.

Now he remembers wanting to ask the catgirl that day what does the word actually mean.

Taking a mental note to clarify with her later, Miyureno opened the fridge and continued with whatever he wanted to do.

For the next few hours, he was left alone at the dining table to tap away at his laptop and proceed undisturbed from his work for the day.

* * *

Come lunchtime, Miyureno's energy reserves have pretty much gone down the drain. Slogging for the past three hours at full effort on his work has thoroughly worn him out.

"Still got more than half of the report remaining though," he complained to himself in an upset groan.

He pushed his laptop aside and planted his head face-flat onto the table.

For a while, he laid there in such a manner, trying to get some rest.

Suddenly, he heard the door creak open. With his head still lying wearily on the table surface, he simply turned it to see who was there.

From behind the door emerged a large catgirl in the same maid uniform as everyone else who worked at La Soleil save for some purple highlights about her attire. The catgirl's long hair that reached the back of her waist was in a tangled mess.

She walked into the room, looking extremely dejected.

Actually, she wasn't simply 'walking'; she was _dragging_ herself into the room.

Coconut groaned as she allowed her feet to slide on the floor while she meandered her way towards the sofa.

Not noticing the other person present in the room – which made sense, Miyureno has not yet bumped into anyone else aside from Maple today – Coconut laid on the sofa with an exasperated sigh.

Curious, Miyureno lifted his head off the table and looked at her figure sprawled on the sofa. She was hugging one of the lap pillows hard against her face.

She let out a sorrowful whine which made Miyureno's concern grow unsettlingly.

He looked back to his laptop and saved his report before pushing the screen down. He then proceeded to the sitting area to check up on the troubled-looking catgirl.

He stood behind the sofa, his forearms propped on the top of the seat as he leaned and hovered his face to look down on Coconut, still with a pillow in her face.

"You alright?"

The unsuspecting catgirl was taken by surprise; she moved the pillow from her face and looked straight up at him with wide eyes.

"Uwah! M-Miyureno-san?!"

From her shock, she sat up quickly, narrowly dodging his head which was hanging slightly above hers. She hugged the pillow to herself and let out an uncomfortable look.

"I…I didn't think anyone would be up here. No one said that you were up here in the first place…"

Still remaining in his position, Miyureno concluded that perhaps Maple was too caught up with running the promotion to let anyone know of his presence.

Knowing that responsible catgirl, she would be hard-driven to ensure that her idea goes well.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have sneaked up on you like that. You just looked very let-down. Something happened?"

The Maine Coon shifted anxiously, tightening her hug on the pillow that was now suffocated to her chest.

For a moment, she seemed to withhold whatever she wanted to say, causing her lips to tremble and her eyes to look strained and tearful.

Finally, she sighed and lowered her head onto the pillow.

"I just messed up downstairs again… nothing new."

"Hm? It can't be that bad, right?"

Not lifting her head back up, she detailed the happening down at the café that resulted in her careless actions.

She did so with a muffled voice.

At this point, Miyureno climbed over the back of the sofa and sat at his end, straining his ear to capture her words.

"…I was nervous b-but they needed more people to bring the prepared pots of tea into the dining room. So I figured that I should just deal with my nerves for a while. Unfortunately, I panicked halfway as I struggled to shift around the crowded dining area."

She shifted her head aside, facing away from him as she continued with a softer, sadder tone. Miyureno shifted closer to hear her clearly.

"So… so one thing led to another and I slipped, causing everything in my tray to topple to the floor."

"…I see…"

"It caused quite a scene; it became so quiet in the café because everyone paused to look at my direction. For a moment, all eyes were on me. Even Chocola, Vanilla and Cinnamon who were there just stared in shock, not knowing what to do.

"This commotion caught the attention of those in the kitchen so Kashou, Shigure, Maple and Azuki came out to see what had happened. Once they figured it out, they came to help clean things up."

Coconut lifted her feet up to the sofa and hugged her knees close to her, wedging the pillow tightly within her frame.

"As I tried to pick up the fallen cups and wipe the floor, I caused more trouble by banging onto people's tables and chairs.

"Eventually, Azuki has had enough and came over to me with an angrier look than normal…

"'Coconut, give it up and head upstairs, you're making things worse by staying here'. Was what she told me."

The man's looked at Coconut in stunned surprise. The statement the catgirl had just told him regarding Azuki simply made his mind blank, his chest hollow as a result of its fierce bluntness.

That is harsh, even for Azuki's standards…

The mournful catgirl's head tilted up slightly, he could barely see her amber and blue eyes behind her frayed, worn-out, draping fringe. It was shiny and watery and looked badly forlorn.

Miyureno struggled to find a response.

"That… It's…" he stammered.

"She shouldn't have said that."

Coconut remained still, her once perky long white catgirls now slumping sadly on her temple.

"You may have made a mistake but your sister was in the wrong to let her emotions get the better of her in that situation. She should know better than to be so direct.

"From what you're telling me, I can sense enough embarrassment and so, so much guilt. Azuki just added insult to injury by being so harsh."

Again, Coconut remained unmoved. She stared long and unfocused beyond the coffee table in front of her.

"Hey," Miyureno began, trying to sound as comforting as possible.

"I'm a screw-up, Miyureno-san," she interrupted him before he could say anything else in consolation.

"I'm clumsy, I lose my cool easily and I can get too ambitious, I know. But no matter what I do, how hard I try, it never gets any better."

She buried her face into the pillow once more.

"I'm hopeless," she sniffed.

"Azuki is right, I'm nothing but trouble. The longer I stay, the more inconvenient it is for others."

She sniffled again, her upper body heaving as a result.

"That can't be true though, Coconut. I'm sure there are things that you're great at. You can help the café in other ways; a task you will outshine all the catgirls in."

"How do you know that, Miyureno…? You've never seen me at work yet. And if you do, you won't be as optimistic as you are now…"

Miyureno kicked himself mentally and clenched a fist, gripping the material of the sofa tightly.

He was having trouble consoling the catgirl. She was right; he had completely no idea how true her statements are. He was just trying to catch something non-existent desperately and blindly from thin air.

He frowned and thought about where else to take this conversation to.

Coconut sniffled once more and lifted her face.

This time, she had a more miserable look about her. She roughly wiped at her nose with the back of her hand.

"It's okay Miyureno… I guess I just have to accept that I'm good for nothing…"

He looked at her with a glare, wanting so badly to say something to encourage her but knew that whatever would come out of his mouth would simply be guesses at this point.

Suddenly, the door creaked open again.

"Miyureno-san!" the person called.

"Sorry for taking a while. Things down there have died down for now so I brought up your-"

The familiar sound of a certain calm, confident catgirl stopped halfway.

"…lunch…?" she ended.

Miyureno turned to look towards the door, only to see Maple holding onto a silver tray. She was looking idly at her sister's direction.

She quickly collected herself and walked over to where they were, setting the tray down on the coffee table before sitting down on a standalone couch that was nearer to Coconut.

A plate of three slices of cheesecake was placed squarely on the tray flanked by a dessert fork and spoon. A pot of tea sat idly on its coaster and near it was a tea-cup, already filled with tea.

The aromatic whiff of the Earl Grey Tea soon filled the room.

He averted his attention back to Maple; her eyes were still fixated on Coconut.

The larger catgirl cleared her throat and sat up more staunchly, trying to make her face look less sorrowful than when only Miyureno was around.

Maple's usual cool and mature aura seems to be riling up her little sister. That's just how strong of a persona Maple has put up with her siblings.

"You're still upset over what happened downstairs, aren't you?" the American Curl began with a sigh.

Coconut frowned and tilted her head down, not answering her question.

"Coconut…" Maple said.

Though, it wasn't in a soothing way. Maple's tone seemed firmed.

 _Is she...?_ Miyureno began to wonder.

"You made a mistake, yes. But you shouldn't mope around and look sad like this. If you feel guilt and regretful, you should do something about it!"

 _She is. She is nagging at her…_

Coconut's frown became sharper as she tightened her coil around herself and the pillow.

"Sitting around, looking down isn't going to help anyone, Coconut."

Maple crossed her arms and sat up straight.

 _Geez. She looks like a stern lecturer right now…_

"You think that we all don't make mistakes? Well, we all actually do, even me. I've slipped up a bit here-and-there just now. So what makes your screw-up any different from the rest of u-"

 _AAAND, THAT'S FAR ENOUGH._

Miyureno's mental alarm was blaring like crazy, urging him to intervene immediately.

He purposely cleared his throat, catching the attention of Maple.

Her ears perked up and she tilted her head questioningly.

Before Miyureno could communicate anything to ease the situation, Coconut shot up and stood. The pillow she held fell straight to the floor.

Unperturbed, she stomped away, a cold chill lingering within Miyureno as she did so.

"Hey! Coconut!" Maple called out but the catgirl simply ignored her and continued.

Miyureno shimmied his way across the sofa to get close to Maple.

As she stood up, wanting to chase after her sister, Miyureno caught her by the wrist with a tight grip.

Maple gasped and turned to him.

"Miyureno?" she said in quiet surprise.

She sat back down on the couch, allowing Coconut to walk on her own to the kitchen.

"Maple, you aren't helping your sister at all, you know?"

She looked at him, not understanding what he was trying to say at all.

"What do you mean? But it's the truth! She isn't helping anyone just by sitting there and looking miserable!"

He cringed at the volume at which she said it, completely unaware and insensitive to the fact that Coconut might have heard it.

"Hey, hey!" he hissed silently.

"Quieten down!"

He patted on the empty space beside him.

"Come here," he invited.

"Huhhh?" Maple droned.

She complied and went over to sit beside him. Now that she was close enough, he whispered to her.

"Look. Maple. What you say is correct, it's the truth. But you're not giving any advice that is meant for _her_. You're giving advice that only _you_ can do."

Maple leaned in to him and followed his hushed tone.

"But Coconut should learn to stand up for herself! She is not going to be a kitten any longer, Miyureno!"

"Yeah but that's what you think is good for her. It's pretty obvious that Coconut needs something else than that at the moment, doesn't it?"

"She does?"

"Yeah!"

He continued to explain.

"Look. You are a strong, independent catgirl so these hard, realistic approach works for you. But you must understand that Coconut is not like you at all. She is different from you."

"I know that Miyureno, I'm not that ignorant. But I also know what's best for her!"

She stood up.

"As far as I know, that kitten just needs someone to kick her into action! It's harsh but that's just reality."

Before she could step away, Miyureno grabbed her at her wrist, stopping her once more.

"What about what we talked about, Maple? About you being a better sister? About finding out the personal problems of Azuki and Coconut and working from there?"

Maple paused and tilted her head slightly down in thought.

"Honestly, I think that if you really are going to say whatever you want to say to her, in that kind of tone, it's much more brutal and heart-breaking to Coconut than her getting into a fight with Azuki!"

"M... Miyureno…"

This seemed to trigger something deep within the catgirl. She turned to look at him with an expression that abandoned her cool façade completely.

She gave him a stunned look, a hurtful one no-less.

She looked at him as though his words had betrayed her.

Convinced that he said it with good intent, he continued.

"If you're not willing to see things in her view, then she will just view you as just another Azuki. She will bottle things up from you and you won't be able to get to her again.

"You won't be the caring elder sibling that you wanted to be…"

Maple looked intensely at him. Her mind was pondering hard on the words leaving his mouth right now.

Frankly, Miyureno soon realised that there was a chance that he went too far with Maple. Hopefully, he was right to believe that she is as understanding as he thinks she is.

"Miyureno…" she said in an empty way again.

"Hey," he said, in a more soothing tone.

He tilted his head, gesturing her to sit down again. She did as he asked, looking less determined than before.

"I'm just helping you out, Maple. You'll be a better sister yet."

"I know you mean well, Miyureno. After all we've talked about, I've learnt enough about you to know that you have an eye that looks out for everyone.

"But thanks for saying that, for a second there I felt really bruised… honestly…"

"I'm sorry. I'm also looking out for Coconut too. She seemed hurt enough as it is."

The catgirl in question was still milling about in the kitchen. Even though Miyureno and Maple can see all corners of the place from where they sat, the troubled Maine Coon was nowhere in sight.

And they both neither heard nor saw her move away from the place.

His heart panged imagining that she was sitting in a corner, hugging herself. That was the only explanation.

"There you go again," Maple said.

When he broke his lost gaze from the kitchen and looked to her, he noticed a wry smile on her face.

"Hm?"

"You looking out for others…"

"Oh."

He scratched the back of his head uncomfortably, not knowing what to say.

She smiled genuinely at his fluster before bringing the two of them back to main topic.

"So what should I do Miyureno?"

He gave it a long, thorough analysis before answering.

"Like I said, what you think may be good for her is not actually meant for her personality. Its advice meant for yourself.

"So you should think in her shoes. You're her sister and have spent most of your life with her. You know more clearly than I do what her character is; her likes and dislikes – whether or not she is the cold, realistic type or the hopeful, innocent dreamer."

He looked at the tray at the coffee table and grabbed the tea-cup, taking a sip from it.

"Or something like that…"

Maple hummed curiously, a curled finger cradling her chin.

"Well, Coconut is one of those soft-hearted kind of catgirl, that much is obvious," she said.

"But, I don't see how that is good for her."

Miyureno chuckled lightly at her bewilderment.

"That's just the way Coconut is. Try as you might, that part of her will never change."

He took another mindless sip at his tea.

"Besides, softies have their quirks!"

Maple looked at him with a dubious smirk.

"Hmmmmm? You find fancy something about Coconut?" she teased.

He flinched in slight embarrassment.

"Wh-What? Hey hey hey! Don't stir things up out of nowhere!"

His fluster caused Maple to giggle.

"Anyways, you do find something likable about her softness too, right?"

She nodded her head curtly.

"The bottom line is," Miyureno summarised, "Coconut is her own catgirl, clearly different from you. Don't go against it otherwise you'll cause friction.

"Like what you've done now."

He waved a hand over to the direction of the kitchen, referring to Coconut moving away.

"Instead, use what you know about her to help her. You sister doesn't need a discipline-master right now you know. She doesn't need an emotionless Azuki or a cool, mature Maple. She needs a loving sister who understands her."

Whatever he had just said seemed to stir something with his companion.

Her beautiful emerald eyes seemed to brighten and her cat-ears perked up as though reaching an epiphany, a sudden realisation.

He smiled at her, somewhat proud that she now understands what needs to be done.

After giving her some time to think about it herself, he gently shoved the tea-cup in his hands to her.

"Here," he offered.

Maple's momentary detachment from reality got interrupted by this. She stared at it for a moment before giving him a thankful smile.

She took the cup from his hands and took a sip from it, causing her smile to widen more afterwards.

As she drank from the cup, he took the plate of cheesecake and grabbed a bite.

He hummed in delight from its savoury taste and took another small portion. He brought the dessert fork to her, offering her a bite from it.

"You have a knack for feeding me, don't you?" she commented before leaning in to his out-stretched hand.

Just like on the first day when he came back to the café, she held his hand in place with her own and put the fork into her mouth.

She grinned as she allowed the soft texture of the cake to melt in her mouth, its sweetness and cream stimulating her taste buds.

She took a handkerchief from the tray and tapped it lightly on her mouth.

Maple heaved a heavy sigh, catching his attention.

"See what I mean Miyureno?"

"What?"

"If you keep helping me out like this, I'll begin to owe you so much more than I can bear! I'm not used to this kind of thing."

He laughed at her.

"Now, now. Strong as you may be, you still need someone to look after you. It just so happens to be me nowadays."

She gave him an admiring look.

"Yeah, it seems to be coming from you the most, huh? Not that I'm complaining."

He gave her a grateful smile; happiness welled within him at her subtle compliment.

It's not really true that she owes him for any of this, he thought. She is making him feel so content and purposeful by allowing him to offer a hand to her.

"So," she said.

"I guess I have you to thank again, Miyureno-san."

"Don't thank me yet, you! You still have to put my advice to use and see if it's truly useful."

He tilted his head towards the kitchen, hinting at what needs to be done.

Maple gave him a driven glare, convinced and confident that she is now prepared to do what is right. She stood up and gave him a nod.

Be it to show gratitude or to express her confidence to him, Miyureno wasn't sure.

He looked on as he saw Maple walk away from him and towards the kitchen with a skip in her step, evidently eager to be a better help for her sister.

Miyureno grabbed another bite of his cheesecake, its plate still in hand.

He saw Maple enter the kitchen; she seemed to be looking down by the counter area, probably where Coconut was.

Her lips moved and the words that left her mouth were inaudible. She had a comforting look about her face. Her eyes were half-lidded and understanding. The way her lips barely parted made him infer that whatever she said was delivered in a soothing way.

He smiled at the sight.

He then saw Maple crouch down as well, now completely out of view.

Now somewhat left to his lonesome, he continued to consume his dessert in delight.

* * *

Some more time has passed and Miyureno had eventually found his way back to doing up his report.

Somewhere mid-way, Maple and Coconut have seemed to have made up and must have left to go downstairs some time ago.

Miyureno was not certain about the exact details; he was too engrossed with finally completing his work.

Unfortunately, it has been a good four hours and it was reaching late into the afternoon. At this stage, Miyureno has barely made any progress and was certainly far from wrapping up his report.

He heaved a defeated sigh and clicked on the document's 'save' icon.

His reaction has drawn in the reaction of those around him.

"Miyureno, I think it has come to a point where it's getting counterproductive," Maple commented.

The blonde catgirl was sitting opposite to him. She was stirring her cup of coffee staunchly.

Beside her was a very happy Coconut. Whatever was exchanged between her and the American Curl had seemed to be very effective. The large catgirl's stark contrast in mood from earlier to the one she was in now kind of astonished Miyureno.

Regardless of Maple's methods, he felt impressed.

Proud, almost. She did it under his encouragement after all.

Miyureno gave Maple a defeated nod.

"Yeah, I'm beginning to slow down a lot."

"You should leave it for another time, Miyureno-san! You've been working at it for how many hours now!" a cheerful Coconut exclaimed in between bites.

After Maple and Coconut had went down to continue their duties to the café, the rest of the catgirls, Kashou and Shigure popped up in their own time, hanging about and keeping him company for a while as they rested from the job.

Now that the two catgirls in front of him have been at it since lunch, it was their turn to take a break.

From the looks of things, it seems that activity downstairs has dialled down considerably.

'We ran out of the premium tea to give out for free' was the reason Maple gave.

So they both sat in front of him with a plate of bread and a cup of coffee each.

As usual, Coconut claimed a large amount for herself and is now chomping down on it merrily.

"Yup. I think that's about enough work for today. I still have another duty tomorrow so I need to cut it short now."

The trio heard the door open and looked to see Shigure come in.

Kashou's diligent little sister was in her own work attire, a more violet-blue coloured maid outfit. She had in her hands a bundle of small slips of paper.

She aimed straight for the dining table upon entering the place and took the seat to Miyureno's left which was opposite Coconut.

"What's that?" Miyureno asked with regards to the paper slips.

"It's all the receipts received today. I've just finished counting them."

"Huhh? You're already compiling today's earnings? We haven't even closed yet," said Maple.

"Once we have told everyone that we ran out of premium tea so we have to put the promotion to an early end, barely anyone is at the café now. The counter won't be on overdrive for the rest of the day so I think it will do without me having to man it."

She waved her hand uninterestingly.

"The rest of them can manage on their own for now."

 _A bit careless of you though isn't it…?_

But Miyureno guessed that he can't hold it against her.

Just like Kashou, Miyureno has found reason to fear Shigure. That little girl may be young but she somehow has a knack for business.

And her commitment to work is near fanatical. If she wanted to take a break, she is more than deserving of it.

"Anyway, I came up to congratulate you Maple," the little girl explained.

"Hm? Me? Why?"

"Because today went off without a hitch?" Miyureno guessed.

Shigure nodded in confirmation.

"Yes! Our sales today were sky-high. It was a bit scary at first. I admit, the lengthy queue outside made me doubt our ability to manage it all but it worked out well in the end."

"Yay~! Good job, Maple-oneechan!" Coconut cheered.

Maple simply closed her eyes and crossed her arms tightly across her chest.

 _Haha… she's flustered._ Miyureno pointed out.

Even if he and Maple hadn't interacted much together so far, the times when they eventually did were deep and elaborate. This has allowed him to be more familiar with Maple's behaviour.

"It's nothing. I'm just pulling my own weight as needed, that's all."

She spoke so softly that everyone else at the table could barely hear it. The way her lips barely parted as she said it too…

 _Yup, definitely embarrassed._

Miyureno made the conclusion with slight content to himself at how accurate he was at spotting it.

"Don't be silly, Maple," Shigure said.

"This is the first time you're taking on such a big responsibility for the job. Rather than sticking to the way things usually are, you decided to include new ideas to it. Since it turned out fine and made the name of La Soleil all the more famous, you should be commended."

Miyureno chuckled at Shigure's comprehensive compliment. He decided to chip in a bit of his own.

"See, Maple? I was right to be proud of you this morning even before the day began. I knew you'd be able to pull it off easily."

It just so happens that Maple has reached her limit as to how much praise can she absorb whilst maintaining composure.

His statement caused her to slouch and lower her head.


	10. Chapter 10: Insecurities

**Good day all!**

 **It has been a while since my last update. I have been swarmed at work because I am currently in a middle of a transition.**

 **I am preparing to leave my office and turn operational in a few days.**

 **What does this mean for the story?**

 **Well, once I have started in my new posting, I would take some time before things settle down. I will be learning on the job very vigorously which may be bad news for the progress of this story.**

 **But I have already thought of a story line which I am very passionate of and excited for you all to eventually read (once I can even translate it from my brain and into text - the true struggle of writer hobbyists).**

 **Don't get me wrong, there are buffer chapters already prepared but I have to publish in a timely manner or risk getting overwhelmed.**

 **Regardless, the pause in writing has allowed me to step back and think more about where I want this story to go and I can now type with a clear objective in mind.**

 **Its just, don't expect it all to come out so quickly!**

 **Finally, I would like to take this time to dedicate a few shout-outs!**

 **Royal1337**

One of the first few readers and the first private message I have received from. From one contributor to the Nekopara fandom to another, I shall keep this story alive to add a new perspective to the fandom that is not a 'CoconutX_' story hahaha.

Please check him out if you guys are searching around for another Nekopara fanfic to get into!

 **US_ARMY_Private**

Last I checked, your profile name was something Russian-army related , why the change of heart? Hahaha. Thanks for giving me my first up-vote (and plenty of it!) And thank you for all the comments! It's really encouraging to read them all and know that someone is really interested in something I have put painstaking effort into! The excitement you have expressed in your reviews has brightened me up plenty of times. And thanks for your suggestions too! I will take them into consideration!

 **FreeDragoons**

I know I have replied to your comment long ago but need to give credit where it's due! Thanks for being the very first to comment on my work! It was an exciting and uplifting feeling to discover that someone had some things to say about the story I have put in a lot of effort for. And the long prose of encouragement was really motivating and makes me feel like all the long hours of typing and editing is all worth it in the end. The detail you put into the review has given me tremendously valuable feedback. Thank you!

 **I didn't realise how gratifying it feels to know that others are so interested in what I have to offer until these three showed up! To have others give feedback or even just drop by to say 'Hi' expands my horizons beyond the four falls in which I type this fanfic in.**

 **I don't know how else to put it.**

 **It's just a fantastic feeling!**

 **Now, lets move on!**

 **This is a chapter I like a lot and I hope you do enjoy it as well!**

* * *

Three days have passed by and Miyureno is back at Yamashita Park again.

He is nearing the end of his routine 10km run.

After Maple's successful organisation of the tea promotion at La Soleil which has gathered heaps of profit for the shop, the Minaduki family decided to celebrate with a lavish dinner at the end of that day.

As a result, Miyureno and Maple's arrangement to meet up at the park every three days had been cancelled. So he simply ran his usual long distance warm up before making his way home straight after that.

It was a bummer as he was looking forward to meeting up with the catgirl that he has grown quite fond of interacting with.

 _But oh well_.

He had settled with the fact that Maple _does_ deserve the celebration for the great work she has done. He himself had sent his congratulations and compliments to her, which she took with concealed shyness.

Her reaction never gets old and he was secretly proud of his ability to stir her in such a way, which he realised was not something that just anybody could do.

He slowed down to a halt at the entrance to the jetty, their meeting point for tonight.

After washing up and cooling down like he usually does, he made his way along the pier and to the spot where he had last caught the catgirl singing whole-heartedly.

Just like last time, Maple was sitting there with the glow of the Ferris Wheel and the bright city lights surrounding her.

However, he could not hear any signs of her singing.

Miyureno chuckled to himself; he guessed that the catgirl had prepared this time for him sneaking up on her. She wanted to avoid being caught in an embarrassing moment yet again.

He rounded the bench and faced Maple.

"Hey," he greeted.

Her eyes landed on him, a courteous smile on her face.

"Hello Miyureno."

The American Curl was in her normal set of casual outfit: the fashionable schoolgirl attire.

She noticed the glistening beads of sweat on his skin and the damp fabric of his running singlet.

"How was the run?"

"Hm? It was good. Nothing too special but I had fun this time round."

" 'This time round?' You mean there are times that you don't enjoy running?"

"Of course! There are days when I just don't feel like it. It could be because I'd feel really lethargic or out of energy. Other times, it'd just be my laziness speaking."

"But you'll run anyway?"

Miyureno nodded.

"That's funny," she said with a glint in her eye.

One corner of her lips curled into a smirk as she continued.

"Forcing yourself to continue to do something you don't enjoy."

Miyureno laughed and sat down beside her.

"Well, it became so routine to me so I guess I've gotten used to doing it.

"And I'd never forgive myself for slacking off so..."

He averted a mindless gaze to the distant waters ahead of him.

An unknowing smile was subconsciously stuck on his face.

It was a weird feeling.

For the longest time, he hasn't been this excited to meet up or talk to someone.

After that night when they spoke so openly, a lot of emotions were flung into the air for each other to see – not only those tender feelings from him, alone, but those from Maple too.

He couldn't help but feel closer to her after that. The things they had shared were topics that can be so sensitive, so awkward to discuss.

And yet, they did it so comfortably together.

Definitely. They have gotten closer.

Or that's what he thinks anyways.

He found her trustworthy enough to confide his insecurities with her, to some extent.

He swiped his face with an open palm, allowing the collected perspiration to be dabbed away.

He hoped that she felt the same way about it too.

Despite his happiness, something had been really bugging Miyureno for a while. He had noticed a strange behaviour in the catgirl after that night.

Aside from the time when he had helped her about Coconut's problems back at Kashou's living room, his other conversations with Maple were quite minimal.

It wasn't a mutual treatment; Miyureno felt that he could be friendlier and more open to her but the catgirl would only display her usual cool façade – which meant that she would barely react to whatever he does or say.

At best, she would smile because of a wry comment or a genuine compliment that he would direct to her. Otherwise, she just looked unaffected by it all.

But Miyureno is aware that Maple believes in maintaining a certain 'image' in-front of her sisters who hold her with high regard and admiration.

It's not what one would imagine a sibling-to-sibling relationship would be like but that's just Maple's unique way of behaving.

Still, he couldn't help but worry.

On many occasions when he is hanging around the cafe, he would have the feeling that Maple was trying to ignore whatever had transpired between them on that one emotional night.

It saddened him that she did not reciprocate his feelings to be closer friends after what they had achieved that night.

That does not mean that he had confronted her about it though, or, at least, he had been patient about wanting to know her thoughts. He figured that maybe it would be best to talk about it in private.

So the park was a great chance for him to clear the air. Or more especially, his troubled mind.

"Maple…" he began with an air of awkwardness.

For a brief moment, he was struggling to find a way to put his thoughts into words – and in a way that does not seem too emotional.

"Hmm?"

"What do you think of this?"

"This?"

"As in the two of us meeting here in the park every so often."

"Hmm? Where is this coming from all of a sudden?"

She looked at him suspiciously.

A single eyebrow was raised as she scrunched her cheek.

"You're not having second thoughts about meeting up, aren't you?"

"No! Of course not. It's quite the opposite; I was looking forward to tonight. Especially after not being able to see you here the last time."

He continued, "I was just thinking if you felt the same excitement as I do. Or the same happiness that I feel now, sitting here with you."

"O-oh...Well..." she stammered softly, startled by his comment.

 _Aaand there we go,_ he thought bashfully, referring to the cloud of uneasiness that had settled between them.

 _He got too emotional about it._

He gritted his teeth as he braced himself for Maple's response.

"You..."

The catgirl scratched the side of her head as she tried to avoid looking at him.

"Baka (dummy)... you don't need to be so self-conscious about it..."

In the regular hushed whisper to herself, Maple continued and answered his question in full.

"I was looking forward to this too, you know. It's not like I didn't care much about our talk last time. And after you helped me with Coconut a few days after, I was more convinced that meeting up with you is a good idea."

He gasped softly.

It must have been a reaction that Maple didn't expect. He hoped she didn't hear it.

He felt as though an anchor that had been weighing him down was lifted off of his shoulders instantaneously. Relief flooded and welled within him.

In spite of feeling embarrassed, she still spoke true to him.

With greater confidence, he let out what has actually been troubling his mind.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't think of you as some ungrateful person. It's just... the way that you have been behaving with me back in the cafe made me wonder. That's all."

Maple's eyes widened in surprise, revealing how oblivious she was to the vague messages she was sending to him as a result of her restrained expression.

"I didn't know you'd be so affected by it Miyureno," she said, genuinely clueless.

"Of course I would. After that night, I felt like we have broken some ice. Seeing the big difference between the way you talked to me here and at the cafe just really got me thinking, you know?"

"I... I see..."

The catgirl, now understanding how greatly misunderstood her intentions were, gave him a serious look.

"Don't worry, Miyureno. Nothing's changed since last time. If anything, it's been for the better."

She then showed a comforting smile.

"And just like you, I cherish this friendship. To know that I can click so well with someone... it's a reassuring thought."

He returned a beaming grin to her.

"But don't you think this is something that we should just keep secret between the two of us?" she asked.

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, do you imagine my sisters letting us go so easily? Think of all the annoying teasing we'll get."

"Oh...! Oh right!"

The ebbing tide below the pier shifted, causing a wave to crash beneath them in a louder-than-usual roar.

Miyureno then laughed when he began to make sense of the whole situation.

"That explains a lot! Hahaha! No wonder why you seem so held back whenever others are around."

"Y-yes..."

"Sorry I'm not laughing at your reasoning. I'm just relieved that this is simpler than I thought it would be. I thought I screwed up big time on something and affected you."

Maple clicked her tongue in playful disappointment.

"But I agree, dealing with the rest would be quite a handful, huh?"

"Yes! Trust me. They. Would." she spoke sternly.

A period of silence befell both of them as they looked at each other.

Then, they both broke out into a happy laugh.

"Yeah, your sisters can be very annoying. In fact, Azuki and Vanilla have been bugging me about the two of us even before I had left for Tokyo!"

"What?"

Maple paused to compose herself after the laugh.

"Really? I didn't know."

"Damn those catgirls," she cursed beneath her breath.

Miyureno laughed at her reaction.

"I mean, it's not that much of a bother. I'd always shrug their comments but _wow_ they can really go far-fetched with their wild imaginations! They seem to be getting the impression that we are being romantic or something."

"U-uhm... wow...uhhhh" Maple sputtered, perking her back straight up.

"Wh-what?" she asked.

Her eyes seemed to fade and look hollow as disbelief took hold of her.

Then he noticed a scarlet red blush forming on the catgirl's usually white cheeks.

 _I have never seen her so openly ashamed before..._ he remarked internally, still not sure what's causing her to react in such a way.

Then, he realised what had just slipped out from his tongue thoughtlessly.

"UH. UHM! I MEAN."

He paused, trying to come up with an explanation for his abrupt use of the awkward word.

Unfortunately, he can't come up with any excuse and just sat there, his face burning.

He scratched the back of his head, looking at the ground with his head turned away from her in shame.

"I guess," Maple began in a choke before clearing her throat and regaining her cool.

"Ahem. I guess, as long as we both know the truth to it, that we are just close friends, it should be alright. I-I mean, it's not like I'm catpanion to you or anything..."

"Y-yes!"

Again, he blurted out whatever first came to mind without much consideration. Only, it was to his favour this time. Noticing what exactly Maple had just said made him sigh in relief.

 _Wait._

 _Something she said made him remember something vaguely familiar._

 _That word..._

 _He then caught himself by surprise._

 _That's right!_

"Catpanion?" he thought out loud.

"H-Hm?!"

Maple's whole body tensed up as she clenched a fist to grip at the hems of her skirt tightly.

"Wait," she stated in a serious, barely audible volume.

"You... you don't think of me as a catpanion, do you?"

The way she was addressing him; it was as though he was a drooling Cinnamon without shame, openly expressing her perverted thoughts and displaying it for all to see.

Like a nuisance making that made her way too uncomfortable, the catgirl looked like she was going to just up and leave him alone without any remorse.

 _Hmm... that sounds oddly familiar_ , Miyureno thought, recalling how Maple would react to Cinnamon behaving very inappropriately.

 _Damn._

To be at the receiving end of it, he felt uneasy.

How could Cinnamon continue behaving in such a way despite this kind of reaction from Maple?

"Um. I don't... know what it means, that's all!"

"H-huhh?" She blinked.

"You... don't know what it means?"

He shook his head in denial.

"...oh..."

"I mean, I can _guess_. It's got something to do with describing the closeness between catgirls and humans, right?"

"In a way... yup."

Maple's expression became more relaxed. She cupped her chin on her palm, humming in wonder.

"Catpanion is like... hmmm... how would I put it?"

She tapped her chin lightly.

"I guess if anything, it should be the same as those girlfriend-boyfriend kinds of things you humans do?"

Immediately, Miyureno could feel gallons of blood leaving his head.

His mind felt blank in pure incredulousness from the sudden revelation. For a while, he couldn't seem register the words that had left the catgirl's mouth.

But when it did, he spoke out loudly in flustered shock.

"O-OHHHHH!

 _THAT!_

HAHAHAHAHAHA... HA... HA"

He was scratching his cheek vigorously and lowered his head slowly.

"What's so surprising?"

"Huh? Well, catpanion does sound close to companion, which doesn't have any relation to romantic interest between people. So I figured that they both aren't related to people in love."

Maple frowned and closed her eyes, "Don't be silly, Miyureno-san! They are obviously two different things!"

 _Yeah, well... they sound the same to me…_

He felt rather dumb at the moment for not realising sooner.

As embarrassing as it was, this topic piqued at his curiosity. The concept was quite foreign to him. He didn't know that relationships with catgirls can go to such an extent. And the way Maple said it, like such an obvious fact that labels him as rather dense for failing to know about it.

"I didn't know catgirls and humans can do that. Is it an official thing?"

The catgirl maintained her judgemental glare.

"Gosh Miyureno, are you that ignorant? There are such pairings all over the place."

"There are?" he said blankly.

"Yes!"

"I just thought, you know, they seem close because, you know, master-catgirl kind of thing."

Maple clicked her tongue and spat at him in annoyance.

"Noo~!"

She then buried her face in her palm.

"Miyureno~ If you know that some catgirls can get very close to their masters without falling in love with them then why don't you think the other way around can be possible too?"

"I-I don't know. Maybe you know. Compatibility issues?"

She snapped her hand off and away from her face before giving him a heated glare, her face beet-red.

"What?!"

"I-I mean! Uhm! I thought it's frowned upon or something!"

"You think so?"

He nodded.

"I mean, naturally some people would feel that humans should pair with humans and humans alone, right?"

"Well there are such people but it's a minority."

She leaned back and crossed her arms tightly and gave him a stern look.

"What about you?"

"Hm?"

"What do _you_ think about human-catgirl relationships?"

"Well..."

His thoughts then began to wander. Honestly, such topics regarding catgirls never came to mind. His interaction with their species is so far limited to the Minadukis – and it's not like he has spent so much time with them either.

He just sees the whole thing very simply: humans have collectively agreed to take care of catgirls and catgirls have also expressed the need to have humans look after them.

Again, the main reason for such a relationship is due to how prone they are to being directed by their natural instincts. This may prove dangerous to both humans and catgirls if they are left un-restrained.

Other than that basic knowledge about it, Miyureno knows nothing else.

Which is why the concept of catpanion-ship is very unfamiliar to him.

So it's hard to answer Maple's question now, really.

Regardless, it was an interesting issue.

He tried to take reference by looking at how he, himself, has treated the catgirls he knows.

It is true that, to him, catgirls like Azuki, Vanilla, Chocola, Coconut and Cinnamon are not in any way different from how he views his human friends – save for often noticing their cat-like tendencies which, depending on the reaction, can be good or a bad thing.

But... _beyond_ that?

He looked at Maple, who was looking absent-mindedly off to somewhere beyond the jetty, still with her arms crossed.

This catgirl seems to be proving to him that, yes, it can go beyond just being typical friends.

But to _that_ level?

He never really thought about it.

He found some traits that he liked about her. Especially after discovering how she really is without putting up an appearance, talking truly and expressing herself openly, there is so much more to know about her.

And so much more that he found himself fond of.

He tilted his head back and looked up to the starry night sky, the stars shining a bright, brilliant yellow on the dark ocean-blue canvas.

If Maple – or any other catgirl for that matter – matches up to his expectations of a partner, then why not?

Perhaps it's not natural.

But are they really that different from humans?

Society may always look at them with their slight differences but not to such an extent as to exclude them from being human.

It doesn't really bother Miyureno either if his feelings were to go against society's view on it.

If he feels whatever he is doing is right, and so long as he stays true to himself, then the world's opinions can go bother themselves.

In other words...

"I don't see anything wrong with it, honestly."

A smile crept on the catgirls face; her gaze still remained fixated ahead of her.

Miyureno continued.

"I don't see how different you catgirls are from everyone else. Even if there are slight contrasts, I don't think it completely eliminates the possibility of having a relationship with a catgirl. In fact, you guys seem to be friendlier than most humans I know..."

His statement caused Maple to chuckle. She looked at him, a small smile still stuck on her.

"Really, now? Better than some other humans? That's quite a sweeping statement. "

He nodded in confirmation, "Yup."

"Some of us are deceptive, deceitful people. The fact that you catgirls are sometimes controlled and defined by your emotions and nature means that what you express is what you truly feel. That alone makes many of you surpass some humans, you know."

"Oh."

Maple looked at him with genuine interest.

"I didn't know that."

"Well, let's hope that you don't get to see it first hand, yeah?"

"So you wouldn't mind having a catpanion?"

"Hm? I guess not. Why?"

"No reason."

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Okay."

Miyureno purposely gave her a surreptitious glance, which made Maple flinch back in shock.

"Really! I'm just curious!"

"Sure~ Whatever you say~"

She gave him a frown and turned away, her back now facing him defiantly. This display made Miyureno let out a laugh.

"I'm kidding," he said, wiping a tear.

"But I definitely see you as one of my better friends."

Her ears perked up suddenly. She turned back around, looking completely surprised.

"Huh?"

"What? I just find that we seem to be able to click well together. Personality-wise, we are quite compatible, don't you think? As close friends, that is."

"Hmmmmmm~? Is this some kind of proposal?"

Miyureno clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes at her tease.

"Noooo. I'm just seeing if you agree with what I think about our friendship."

"I know, I'm just playing with you, Miyureno-san!"

Miyureno childishly stuck a tongue out at her. She simply gave him an amused smile.

"Yes, I feel the same way. Somehow, with you, I can express myself openly. You're easy to talk to and I trust you enough to let you know things that I feel insecure about."

Miyureno nodded.

"Yup! Same here."

"I mean," she continued, "we haven't done much together and yet, I already feel closer to you than even some of my sisters."

She laughed nervously to herself.

"It's funny how that works, really. But... it's just how I feel."

Miyureno looked at her, flabbergasted. His mind was trying to process what the catgirl had just said.

 _More than her sisters? Really? That's how much she thinks about this?_

He then looked down at the ground beyond his feet thoughtfully.

"You're right. We never really interacted so much that we get to truly call this friendship stronger than most...

"But who cares, right? So long as we both see it the same way," he said with a smile.

Maple nodded her head with her eyes softly closed, looking content.

"Yes..."

 _So there's that..._ he thought to himself as he let out a sigh.

Maple has pretty much cleared all the doubts and uneasiness that had been troubling him for a while. And it was not the first time he had fretted over this catgirl too.

If he were to include that time before they had first met at Yamashita park days ago, that would total to two occasions where he had worried about what Maple was thinking about.

He huffed as he realised how much this catgirl was affecting his mood nowadays.

And so, the two continued to sit there, enjoying each other's company for the night, just like the last time.

Though their conversation has diverged from deep, heartfelt topics, the casual to-and-fro teasing, laughter and discussion has still made the night wonderful.

There, the two were.

One human.

One catgirl.

They had the jetty just for themselves and each other, immersed in the beauty of the quiet, private night.

The frequent greeting of the cool ocean breeze that would often blow past and the lapping of waves so rhythmic, that it sets the slow tempo to signify the slow-down of time as they conversed, provided ambience to their experience.

 **Next chapter:**

 _11\. Miyureno_

 _..._

 _For a moment, everyone held their stare to her in silence. On their faces, all of them had an insisting smile._

 _"Easy to confide in, huh~?" Azuki repeated with a malicious look in her eyes._

 _..._


	11. Chapter 11: Miyureno

Two weeks later…

"Ughhh…" Miyureno moaned grumpily.

His head was lying face-first on the surface of the dining table.

A few centimetres in-front of him was his laptop and it displayed on-screen, a long body of text. At the end of it, the vertical line that indicated where the next letter would appear was blinking undisturbed.

"Miyureno-san..." Maple said with a long whiny hum, as though she was nagging at him.

"You should take a break. You haven't slept for a day and you're really pushing yourself more than you normally would."

She was sitting at the side of the table that was opposite to him, looking on with a tea-cup in her hand. Steam lifted off of its top and spread across the whole room. Everyone who caught a whiff of it would find themselves being greeted by its pleasant aroma.

To Maple's right was Coconut who, just like her older sister, was taking some time off of her work to catch a breather.

Since the upstairs was occupied by Miyureno, she and Maple decided to accompany him at the table.

The Maine Coon nodded insistently.

"Oneechan is right! You don't look so good, Miyureno-san~! At least have some food if you don't plan on catching up on your sleep..."

Miyureno groaned, stubbornly refusing to lift his heavy head up from the table.

A large scale incident took place just yesterday in the wee hours of the morning when his duty was supposed to end.

As a result, he took part in an operation that lasted until 8am.

After milling around and tying things up once he was back at the station, it was already 10am. He took a quick shower and then made his way to the café straight after.

Now with a massive report to write-up for the case, the fire-fighter was quickly being overwhelmed by the pressure.

It never was easy being an officer, he concluded.

The weary man grimaced, envious of his subordinates who were probably sleeping soundly at home right now without having to worry about the pressure of having to submit a write-up.

Miyureno let out another groan and lifted a hand lazily up before slumping it down at the edge of his laptop.

He slid his arm back to himself, causing the laptop's rubber footing to drag and rattle noisily on the table.

Looking up at the screen, he propped himself onto the table with his elbows and heaved a sigh as he continued typing.

Miyureno's panda eyes bore red-veins. As more words popped up on screen, his pupils would follow suit with obvious reluctance to do so due to the immense fatigue.

His hair was a whole other mess; it was frayed and unkempt, looking pretty much like a worn-out broom.

If he had the energy he normally would, Maple and Coconut knew full well that he would fix it up and keep it tidy – that's seemingly one of his habits.

The American Curl couldn't stand the sight. It did not only make her concerned but it also made her frustrated; the guy is being way too stubborn for his own good!

The catgirl just couldn't tolerate watching him be so inefficient such that he ends up suffering like he was now. If he did catch up on sleep first and worked on the report afterwards, she was sure that he would be able to complete it sooner and with better quality.

So, she lifted herself just enough for her to be able to lean over to him and reach his laptop with a fully stretched-out arm.

Then, she pushed the screen down.

"Hey, what gives?" Miyureno said, wiping his face and barely showing a change in expression in response to her actions.

"Mi-yu-re-no," she said in a stern tone.

The catgirl displayed a sharp frown and her mouth was angrily scrunched down, lips tightly sealed.

With a cupped hand brought before her lips, Coconut giggled at the adorable display the two of them were putting on before her.

"Go and take a quick nap, Miyureno-san! We promise we won't make you sleep the whole day away," she said cheerfully.

Again, Miyureno made his head fall straight onto the table, his face out of view.

But... But...

Even in reasoning with himself, he found difficulty.

He felt too sleepy, too exhausted.

Then, he heard Shigure's voice beside him.

"What's going on here?"

The young girl noticed the corpse-like mess that was seated opposite her two catgirls. Once she had seen the closed laptop and the plain crew-neck T-shirt, she immediately knew who it was.

"What's happened to Miyureno-san?"

Maple crossed her arms, still looking furious.

"He is just acting silly. He just came back from work not too long ago and has been typing out some report endlessly since! Now look at him! It's clear that his body can't take it any longer."

"Huhhhh?" Shigure chimed.

"Miyureno-san~"

The person she was calling for made no movements.

"Uhmm... Miyureno-san?" Coconut, too, called out to him.

"Hey, Miyureno?" Shigure said as she walked over to where he was.

She took the seat to his left. She laid a hand on his shoulder and shook him lightly.

Again, the man didn't react at all.

Kashou's younger sister noticed Miyureno's chest heaving up and down in a slow, relaxed rhythm – he was fast asleep.

"Hm? It looks like his exhaustion had finally caught up to him," Maple stated.

She sat back down on her chair, her expression relaxing as she simply stared curiously at the slumbering person.

Shigure shook her head, looking quite baffled at him.

"You know," she began.

"This is typical behaviour for Miyureno-san. He was always someone who would over-work himself, you see."

"Huhhh? How do you know that, Shigure-chan?" Coconut asked expressively.

"She knew that much of Miyureno because he has been good friends with Kashou since high school, remember?" the other catgirl replied, swirling her cup of tea, allowing more scented steam to fill the air.

Shigure nodded at Maple's observation.

"He was pretty much like Onii-sama. Only, where my brother was hardworking in terms of baking, Miyureno was equally as determined in his studies; his academics back in school were always impressive.

"Which is why he had managed to come to Japan despite being a foreigner; he simply aced the entrance exam. Though his grades in Japanese weren't all that great, our school decided it's a small price to pay for the rest of his talents."

Shigure stated the facts she knew about him, looking rather intellectual and proud.

Coconut looked at Shigure with wide, shimmering eyes whereas Maple gazed at her intently albeit showing a subtler interest than her younger sibling.

Somehow, the two of them seemed very interested with what she has to say about Miyureno so their reactions did little to stop her from acting all-knowing.

"If he really was that smart, he could've gone to other places as well. Why did he have to choose Japan?" the blonde questioned.

After talking to him a lot lately, she had realised that by not finding out more about him and his background, it places an odd gap in their closer-than-normal friendship – or what could potential be a closer-than-normal friendship...

It's funny that she only began to think about it now.

"That's because he didn't make that decision on his own."

"Oh, that's right~!" Coconut pointed out in a happy tune, "Miyureno-san said that he came here with someone who isn't part of his family, right?"

"Huh? He told you all about this?"

Upon being reminded by Coconut about that, Maple's mind began to be boggled by it again. She thought it was nothing much, probably some friend that Miyureno feels is irrelevant enough to remain unrevealed.

"Yes. He said something about this back when we had our dinner with him. Though, he didn't really tell us exactly who, not even when I asked him that time.

"I don't get it. Why does he have to be so secretive about it? The person must have mattered a lot to him for him to decide his future together with this person."

But now that Coconut has put it that way, this mysterious person must be someone very significant to Miyureno. That should be the case, right? Because even Shigure had brought it up.

"Well, I don't think that guy will be someone you will get to meet anyways so don't worry about it!" the girl waved her hand in a dismissive manner.

Guy, huh? Maple thought.

Not only did she bring it up but she was also acting so repressed about it too, the blonde-hair catgirl noticed with suspicion.

Before they could discuss about this any further, the trio heard the door leading into the room open.

They turned and saw Kashou and Azuki come in.

The pastry chef was in his usual long-sleeve chef attire with the black pants. His work-boots were probably tucked just outside the door as he was padding about the wood floor with his socks.

Azuki was dressed the same as the rest of them. The petite catgirl was holding onto a pile of small slips of paper.

The two of them caught sight of the gathering at the dining table and decided to join in as they all take their break.

"Yo!" Azuki greeted with her usual boyish grin.

"Ya got space for the two of us?"

Maple gave a quick nod, "Mhmm, come on in."

She then gestured to Miyureno, "Just the zombie."

Upon mentioning that, Azuki and Kashou quickly glanced over at what Maple was talking about. They saw, at the centre of the table on the side opposite them, Miyureno face-flat on the table, unmoving.

"He is just tired," Shigure said, answering the question that would inevitably come.

"Hm. Must be work? The news this morning covered on some large warehouse fire at the southern industrial part of the city," the La Soleil owner guessed.

Coconut nodded her head, her body twisting around to face them.

"That kinda sounds like what Miyureno-san was telling us just a while ago while he was still awake. So I think that's the one!"

The short Munchkin cat smirked at the man as she walked over to the empty chair to the left of Maple.

"Ehhh... can't this guy just sleep on the sofa?"

"Knowing Michael, he had probably worked to a point where he just collapsed, didn't he?"

Shigure laughed and confirmed his assumption, "Yes, the usual."

That's right, Maple thought.

Kashou had always addressed Miyureno differently from the rest of them.

Apparently, 'Miyureno' had never been his actual name before he had come to Japan. Only when he decided to settle down in this country did he apply for Japanese citizenship and an addition to his name.

"So what Shigure says is true, then?" Maple asked, turning around to face the table again.

"Yup!" Shigure said, "I told you. Miyureno-san is quite a predictable person if you get to know him well enough."

Maple's expression showed a lot of interest at this helpful tidbit of advice.

Shigure then spoke to her older brother who was seated on the other side of Miyureno from her.

"I was just telling them about him coming here as an overseas transfer student."

"Ohhhh. That? Well, yeah. This guy may look quite silly but I suppose he is a smartass."

Kashou and Miyureno, being good buddies since high school, exemplify the ideal way brotherhood should be like: full of playful insinuations and overly-derogatory teases about one another.

A very tsundere relationship.

Instantly, Maple took back her previous viewpoint on the matter; their best friend relationship is an overly typical cliché.

She rolled her eyes to herself amusingly.

"Seriously though," Azuki began, looking truly confused.

"I don't see how he can be as genius as you say he is. He doesn't look like a nerd or a closet geek."

Apparently, Azuki had already been around back when Miyureno was living in the Minaduki household for whatever reason. Though her sister had been a kitten then, she had managed to remember many distant memories about the guy.

Maple, though, doesn't remember him being around when she was little – it had just been Kashou, Shigure and Mr and Mrs Minaduki the whole while.

Maybe she was simply too young back then… or wasn't even there in the first place.

But she and the rest of her sisters had known him for about two months since he had appeared in the beginning of their time working at the café. If she were to start counting from when he came back from his Tokyo training, that would total around 3 months of knowing Miyureno.

In that time, they would have figured out that he was an out-going and openly optimistic person.

As for Maple exclusively, he was someone who may come across as a busybody at first but once one realises how consistent he was with showing concern to others, he would come across as a truly selfless person.

He takes time to understand her and her problems and finds reasons to empathise with her.

And it's not like it's touch-and-go with him. He brings it up later on to check and see if she is still disturbed by the same issue.

Maple shook her head – she was getting off-track.

In the midst of her daydream, it seems that the conversation around the table had already gone ahead without her.

"...so thanks to that, he gained quite some popularity in the school," Kashou said brightly as he happily recounted the memories of his shared high school experience with Miyureno.

"Not to mention," Kashou continued, "he's got quite the attention from some of the girls."

He then snickered to himself, to which his sister rolled her eyes and faced away from him annoyingly.

"Well it's comforting to know that he is not one of those shut-ins," Azuki said bluntly.

Meanwhile, Maple was still trying to figure out what they were talking about.

"We should go out with him and play too! Football sounds like a very fun game!" Coconut chimed melodically.

…Football?

"You'd just end up tripping over yourself, ya klutz," the catgirl to Maple's left remarked.

"Azukiii..."

Shigure gave the eldest of her catgirls a stern warning coupled with a glowering glare which sent a shiver crawling up the small catgirl's spine.

Azuki then sat straight up, looking restrained.

"But his sudden passion for that sport ended at high school. After his time with the team, I haven't seen him play since.

"I thought he would continue it, at least as a hobby, but I guess not," Kashou pointed out as he poured some tea into the empty cup in-front of him.

Oh. They were talking about Miyureno's hobbies?

"Still, it makes complete sense for him to join the fire service," his sister said.

Kashou nodded in agreement.

"Huh? Why so?" Maple asked.

To her surprise, the person who replied her was the catgirl to her left.

"Miyureno-san has a knack for life saving and helping others," the Munchkin cat said.

"He had a strong desire for the job at some point," Kashou ascertained, tipping the cup of tea to his mouth and taking a sip.

"But I thought you said he was someone academic? Or someone who likes soccer? Where did the sudden inspiration come from?"

Maple's thoughtfulness made her notice that some things were missing in this whole story surrounding the man dozing off in-front of her.

It seems that their conversation had almost roused him as his arms were now wrapped around his head. At least, this time he had a softer cushion to plant his forehead on rather than the hard wooden surface of the dining table.

Kashou and Azuki seemed to have some trouble coming up with a reply, which made Maple raise a brow.

Out of nowhere, her other sister to her right chipped in with something irrelevant when she noticed the awkward lingering silence.

"Hmm? Oneechan~" Coconut hummed, her tone rhythmic and bubbly.

"Why are you so curious about Miyureno-san huhhh?"

Maple reeled away from her sister, who leaned to her with scrutinising and piercing eyes that seemed as though they were examining her very soul.

She immediately felt uncomfortable, despite her little sister looking adorable behaving like that.

"H-hey. It was just an honest question. I'm curious – can't I just be curious?"

"Curious, ey?" Azuki said with a cheeky finger on her chin.

"A bit too curious, if I do say so myself. My, Maple-chan!"

Uh-oh Maple thought.

The only time Azuki would call to her in such a manner would be when a shameful tease is coming up.

"... are you interested in him?"

The annoying catgirl bumped her brows up and down suggestively.

Maple huffed and crossed her arms.

"N-no! I just want to know more about him. What's wrong with that?"

Shigure sighed out loud.

Not her too...

"Maple..." she began as though she were a nagging mother, "you seem to be taking a lot of interest into guys nowadays. First, the random stranger at the park, and now Miyureno? Tsk tsk."

She shook her head side to side at wide angles.

She's playing with me... right?

That taunting shake... she is exaggerating!

Maple insisted in denial.

She's caught in a tight spot: she had the answer that can rid the misconception in all their heads.

Ever since she and Miyureno had first met at Yamashita park, her sisters had not given up on probing and meddling with her in an attempt to find out who was she meeting with. And if no answer came their way, they would just shrug in defeat and proceed to tease her nonetheless.

But there is more to this, however. She had gotten a brief idea of what was on their minds, judging from the questions they had asked her.

They believed that she's had some romantic happenstance with a stranger that had allured her and swept her off her feet, ridding her completely of judgement and common sense – They express worry that she may not be thinking straight about getting close to such a person.

Though, really, it had just been Miyureno the whole time.

Surely, they wouldn't think this way if they knew it was him, right?

But if she did tell them that, the endless teasing... she couldn't imagine ever seeing an end to that kind of torment.

She sighed; feeling cornered and forced to pick the better of the two evils.

She decided that it'd be best to keep quiet about it and just absorb all the remarks and false assumptions.

Maple figured that the consequences of this is easier to deal with than the other.

"Ehh, you guys must have it all wrong," Kashou said, looking unexcitedly at them as he planted his chin on a palm.

They all stopped their respective commotion and turned to him.

"It's not really something to be worried about. It's just Michael after all."

The hazel-haired chef gave her that look chess-players give when they've gotten the upper hand over their opponent.

Maple couldve sworn that he had a glint in his eye!

"Am I right?" he asked with a smile.

Checkmate.

Maple's lips tightened and her brows lifted, startled from his guess which came with pinpoint accuracy.

"H-how?" she asked, her voice lowered to a soft, shy hush.

The rest of the occupants at the table either raised a brow in confusion or hummed questionably as their eyes remained on Kashou.

"It's quite obvious, isn't it?"

He looked back and only saw the blank stares directed to him.

"No? Just me?"

He sighed, realising that no one shared his viewpoint, or even understood its reasoning.

"Well, we all know Maple; she is a capable catgirl who can think for herself. Don't you guys think it is kind of weird for her to suddenly swoon and fall for some random stranger we don't know? No! Maple has higher standards than that, I'm sure."

"Well~…" Coconut thought, her gaze lifting to the ceiling, "I guess oneechan is quite selfish with her affection, isn't she?"

The Maine Coon then giggled happily, "Not that it's a bad thing! It makes being close to her all that more rewarding!"

"Mm! If we see it that way, it's going to be hard for her to start being interested in someone in such a short time," Shigure added.

Maple just simply gave them a blank, speechless expression. She was still stunned at how Kashou picked up on her and Miyureno's secret so easily.

"Plus!" Kashou began with a finger pointed up.

"I know for a fact that he runs at the park every night before his duty. I was thinking that it was only a matter of time that we will bump into him eventually.

"So I found it quite unusual that we haven't done so. That is, until you girls told me that Maple had met up with some unknown guy at the jetty."

He leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms.

"Put these two points together, and Michael immediately comes to mind."

Everyone else at the table hummed in enlightenment.

Maple still struggled to find the words to speak her mind – Kashou was spot on and it made her paralysed in speech.

"W-well... I... I... You know..." she began, stumbling verbally before taking a breath and explaining.

"It's not like we intentionally met up to talk to each other."

"Ehhh? Then why did you guys meet again the other day? Can't be that much of a coincidence, huh~?" Azuki pointed out.

Again, Maple was caught off-guard.

They noticed it that time, too? Just how much spying did they do?!

Oh wait... if it came to Azuki, almost nothing that happens to her sisters goes on without her knowing...

Maple was normally good at hiding her emotions and withholding her expressions. But when it comes to lying, she was quite bad at it.

"Okay, fine!" she conceded with a frown.

"Miyureno and I agreed to meet up every three nights at the park to talk. What's wrong with that? I just find it easy to confide in him, that's all!"

Her arms were tightly tucked to her stomach, one above the other. Her back was tense and her curly ears were pointed up. The long tail behind her stood taut through the opening at the back of the chair.

For a moment, everyone held their stare to her in silence. On their faces, all of them had an insisting smile.

"Easy to confide in, huh~?" Azuki repeated with a malicious look in her eyes.

"Nya~! I didn't know Maple-oneechan had such a soft side! Miyureno must've really done something that meant a lot to you.

"Knowing that there is such a part about you makes me warm inside~!" Coconut commented, squirming happily with her hands on her chest.

Shigure then added in a calm manner, "It's not that we find anything wrong with you meeting up and being around him, Maple. We are just happy that you've managed to meet someone who can bring out the best in you."

Maple's defensive posture faded and her tenseness loosened. She gave her owner a curious look, not expecting her to sound so supportive of this secretive meeting of hers.

"Shigure and I know that Michael is a good person. We're not worried for you at all.

"I guess everyone would agree when I say that we react this way because this is something new to us. We haven't seen you get so interested in someone outside from our family before so we are glad to see you opening up.

"It's just that your sisters, being the naughty catgirls they are, took the opportunity to toy around with you while Shigure and I are satisfied with simply seeing you happy."

As Kashou said this, he drew glares from Azuki and Coconut, whose focus was on him calling them 'naughty catgirls'.

Meanwhile, Maple brightened up at the words of assurance from Kashou and her owner, Shigure. Though she didn't necessarily need the comfort, knowing that they have her back in this gave her some peace of mind.

"Thanks," she said genuinely and softly.

However, she quickly added on, "But don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm attracted to him or anything."

She looked down at the person she was referring to.

He must be really out-of-it for him to sleep through an entire conversation happening around him.

"I only see him as someone who is worth calling a good friend. So far, he has consoled and comforted me and..."

She held the next few words for a brief second and caught the unwavering looks of interests she is receiving from everyone – except for the person planted face-first on the table.

"...and I like it... and I want to keep having it..." she finished awkwardly.

"B-but! That's it! Nothing romantic, no lovey-dovey or anything lik-"

In the middle of her nervous slew of justifications, Coconut gave out a high-pitched, gleeful squeal.

Her large younger sister had both her hands pressed against her cheeks as her azure and amber eyes shone in excitement.

"Nyawwwwwwwwwwwww~ OneeeCHANnnnnn!"

Like Pikachu calling to Ash Ketchum in delight, the catgirl's squeal was so high-pitched toward the end that Maple swore she heard it crack slightly.

Coconut shook about, overwhelmed by the fuzzy feelings building in her from the sweet display of her usually inexpressive, cool sister.

"WOW," Azuki said out sarcastically.

The short-haired catgirl looked at her flustered little sister with mischief. "I didn't know you can care so much for a person, Pull-May..."

Kashou and Shigure knew that behind the tiny catgirl's demeanour, she hid a tender side of her that is looking at her sibling with pride and happiness.

Kashou laughed at seeing Maple so stiff.

"Hey, whether you are interested with him romantically or not, I won't judge," he said.

"After all, Oniisama, himself, has his own catpanions already," Shigure giggled.

"Two, in fact," Azuki added.

Kashou's cheek twitched in frustration.

"Uh-uhm... that's beside the point."

His reaction caused everyone at the table to laugh.

Except Maple.

She just looked at it all with a small smile. Though the conversation was about her, her mind had long drifted away from it.

She was in deep thought about her and Miyureno.

After hearing what he had to say about catpanion-ship, she felt a great deal of respect and appreciation in the way he thinks. From his many interactions with her, she became more and more certain that he didn't see any barrier between him and her; human and catgirl.

To her, she felt like he treats her as an individual, the physical and biological difference that exists because of her species never played a part in how he views her.

For him to comfortably say that he sees no difference in having a catgirl as his soul mate...

Many others would've held back a bit, worried about some major dilemmas like starting a family, or contrasting lifespan and growth.

But he... he didn't.

She tilted her head and pondered why would he be so open-minded about it.

As the conversation in-front of her moves on without her and it was soon time to continue work, Maple went through the rest of the day distracted by her thoughts.

By him.

She was surprised.

She, herself is confused – which normally isn't the case for her.

She always knew herself best.

But this time, she was unsure.

What do I think of Miyureno... she asked herself as she continued her duty in Patisserie La Soleil.

 **Next chapter:**

 _12\. Absence & Tragedy_

 _..._

 _From the talk they had about Azuki and Coconut's quarrelling, to the time when he had consoled her and downplayed her insecurities about having unachievable dreams, and also back when he stopped her from acting rashly and offered her advice to properly confront Coconut in another way..._

 _... In all those times, she felt truly understood._

 _..._

* * *

 **How do you do, everyone?**

 **So here is the next chapter for ya! Do let me know if you have any suggestions or thoughts about it!**

 **Next chapter, we are diving into a big part of this story so stay tuned!**

 **On a side note, I noticed a lot more traffic on this story lately and I believe it would come as a result of the release of the latest game to the Nekopara Series: Nekopara extra.**

 **Finally, after a long while, we get our Nekopara release for the year!**

 ***confetti confetti!***

 **Though it mainly revolves around Kashou, Chocola and Vanilla, there are parts involving Maple here-and-there too. Also, we get to learn more about them and the canon world of Nekopara is built upon further!**

 **E.g., (SPOILERS)**

 **Kashou studied overseas!**

 **Which is something I didn't take into account in my fanfiction.**

 **Perhaps I will later... We'll see!**

 **Anyways, what do you think about the Extra? I think it was a good perspective onto their past! Coconut's behavior with Azuki was particularly interesting.**

 **And WOW. Our beloved heroine, Maple, looked really great in the Extra!**

 **Till next time!**


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